Changes
by cougarkat
Summary: Hammond will not give up on his dream of having a park on the mainland, but a stubborn Grant stands in his way. Meanwhile back on Isla Nublar changes are coursing there way through the dino population.
1. Default Chapter

Teagan looked back over her shoulder one last time before she boarded the tiny puddle jumper. It would be the last time she saw New York for quite awhile. And while she knew she would miss it, the prospect of what the future held for her was enough to make her board the plane without another thought. 

Her plane ticket and the bus ticket to the airport had been bought by her new supervisor, who would also be personally picking her up at the airport in Montana. An unusual but pleasant occurrence. The fact that she would be working under this man was, in itself an unusual and mind-boggling occurrence to a 25 year old, recently graduated paleontologist. 

"Teagan. Glad you could make it." A kid her age sat in one of the two back seats of the plane. He was tall, muscular and it was evident that he spent a lot of time outdoors. His hair was bleached blond and he carried a deep tan. Teagan smiled warmly at him and took the seat next to his. 

"Hey Ryan. It's been too long," she said. She shoved one bag under her seat and kept one placed on her lap. 

"No kidding. Mom says hi."

"Auntie? How is she?"

"She's good. So how's the museum treatin' you?"

"It was ok. But I was getting tired of putting old bones together, tagging them, putting them in the right drawers. I want to be out there digging them up." She had been climbing her way up the ladder of command at the Museum of Natural History. In a place like New York it was as close as she could get to dinosaurs, her natural love since childhood. Ryan had been less fortunate. He hadn't ever gotten out of his hometown museum which featured one triceratops skeleton on loan from a bigger museum in another city. He had kept on with his studies and research though.

Both of them, though limited when it came to resources, had caught Alan Grant's attention. 

He had called them each about a month ago and delivered quite the opportunity into their laps. He'd offered to fly them both out to Montana to be a part of his current dig. Four years ago the prospect of unearthing a juvenile velociraptor had seemed great. He had thought he'd had one in the bag. In the middle of the dig he'd been interrupted to take a visit to John Hammond's park on Isla Nublar, Jurassic Park. He'd taken the necessary precautions to guard the tiny skeleton, but when he'd returned the fossil site had been washed away by heavy rain. Grant was furious but immediately began a new dig to find another juvenile. 

Now, four years later he thought he had another one. He had wanted to bring out some new recruits to work on it with him, and someone had suggested Teagan Evens and Ryan Huntington from New York and Vermont respectively. Both of them were making their way up in the field of paleontology. The fact that they were cousins was just convenient. 

That's what Grant had originally wanted the two young paleontologists for, to help with the dig. But things had changed in the past two weeks and now he needed them for something much more important. Much more, exciting wasn't the word of choice, risky perhaps. 

The fact that plans had changed was still unknown to the two kids and they waited 

for their plane to take of and fly them to unimaginable opportunities. 

"Teagan. Ryan. Good to finally meet you." Alan Grant, now pushing on the age of forty-five but still spending every minute at the dig, walked up to meet the two kids as they came off the plane. 

"Dr. Grant, it's such an honor to be here and to meet you." Teagan took his outstretched hand and shook it, then moved aside as Ryan stepped up. 

"This is just amazing. It's great to meet you." 

"And likewise. How was your flight?"

"Fine. Though it's good to be back on the ground."

"See, now that's something you and I have in common boy. The ground suits us better than the air."

"Speaking of the ground, when do we start?" Teagan looked around the desolate airport. She spotted a gray jeep across the parking lot and figured it must be Dr. Grant's car. When she squinted her eyes she could see that there was someone sitting in the passenger's seat. A blond woman who looked to be in her mid thirties sat there reading something that she had laid across the dashboard. 

"Is that Dr. Sattler?" Teagan asked, taking a few steps forward. 

"Sure is. Why don't we get going and we'll drive over to the site. I've got a lot to fill you two in on, and not much time to do it in." The two kids grabbed their bags and followed Grant across the parking lot. As they approached the jeep Ellie got out of the car and came towards them. She was dressed in her usual hiking boots and khaki shorts. The clothes had always suited her just fine and she saw no reason to change her style. She had stayed beside Grant since Jurassic Park. They hadn't talked much about their experiences but got right back to work. Until now that was. 

"Hey there. Great to meet you two." Ellie took Teagan's hand and then Ryan's. 

"Wow, no, it's great to meet you." Ryan threw his bag into the back seat and grabbed Teagan's, tossing it over also. Ellie walked back around and got in the front seat. Grant got into the driver's seat and Teagan and Ryan piled in back with the bags. Grant pulled out of the parking lot onto a long stretch of Montana highway. 

"So, how much of the skeleton do you have uncovered?" Teagan asked. She leaned forward and raised her voice over the sound of the wind. Ellie turned around and faced the back. 

"Just the skull. We only found it a few days ago. We had found a few new nests and were hoping to find a juvenile. We got lucky I guess. Let me ask you something, both of you. What do you know about Jurassic Park?"

Ryan smiled slightly and leaned back against the seat. "A lot."

"Like what, what exactly do you know?" Grant yelled from the front.

Teagan looked at Ryan then back at Ellie. "Built by John Hammond, took him about five years. He got dino DNA from insects trapped in amber and was able to genetically recreate a dinosaur after only ten years or so of research. The park was due to open in '94 but you two, and Hammond's lawyer, Robert Gennero, and Ian Malcolm went down to inspect it over a weekend. There were several deaths and the surviving people, you two, Malcolm, Hammond and his two grandkids, were forced to leave the island after barely surviving. Uh, there were 15 different species I believe. They weren't supposed to breed but they did due to West Indian frog DNA used to fill in the gaps in the gene sequence. They didn't actually produce the dinos on Isla Nublar, but on Isla Sorna, site B. Two teams, one from Hammond, one from InGen were sent to site B a couple years ago and that also ended horribly. I don't think anyone's been out there since. The dinos are surviving without lysine which they aren't supposed to be able to do. But then again they weren't supposed to be able to breed."

"Sounds like you've read up on this. You know a lot more than most people."

"Yeah, we've both been fascinated with the whole idea of there being real dinosaurs out there. Alive and walking around." Ryan once again leaned forward to join the conversation. 

"Yeah, that's what I was saying about this time four years ago. Actually, four years ago…yesterday." Ellie looked down at her digital watch, confirming the date. "But you're right, it is fascinating."

"Why'd you ask?" Teagan slipped a hair tie off her wrist and tied her long hair back. She'd been meaning to cut it short for the hot trip out west but it always seemed to slip her mind. Now she would just have to suffer. 

"We'll tell you all about it when we get to the site. It should be another hour or so," Grant yelled back, picking up another five miles an hour. "Or maybe forty-five minutes. I'm sorta in a hurry."

"Why? What?. It's not dark for another three hours. That's plenty of time to tour the site."

"Don't worry. You'll see when we get there." Teagan and Ryan looked at each other then settled back into their seats. Grant and Ellie started a quiet, private conversation up front. Ryan turned away to look out the window, enjoying the flat-out nothingness of Montana. Teagan continued to watch the conversation heating up in the front. She couldn't catch any of the words, but they sure were arguing about something. Grant seemed to be refusing something Ellie wanted. She gave up trying to figure it out and scanned around the interior of the car. 

There was a folder tucked between the two front seats. She recognized it as the blue one Ellie had been reading out of before they met. She leaned towards Ryan so she could read what was printed on the tag. InGen. 

She nudged Ryan's shoulder and pointed to it. He read the tag then looked at her with an arched eyebrow. 'So what' he mouthed. Teagan just gave him a shrug and mouthed the word 'weird' back at him. Ryan smiled and shook his head, then returned to his window watching. Teagan desperately wanted to grab the folder now. She'd always had a burning curiosity for the unknown and…well, the buried. Go figure, she was a paleontologist. 

The rest of the ride was pretty much silent. Ellie told stories about some of the other guys at the site, warning them about some of the more interesting personality traits of a few. She mentioned one kid, Billy Brennan who was also new at the site. He had been one of Grant's students for a few years now and Grant had also been watching him. Ellie didn't get into details at all, just that the three of them should get along. 

Forty minutes later the dusty jeep pulled off the highway on to an equally desolate dirt road that headed off to a huge pit about a mile or two off into the distance. Teagan stood up in her seat gripping the top frame of the jeep. Ryan stood up beside her. While the dust and flying dirt might bother some, it was the element the two young adults had been waiting for all their lives. 

Grant pulled up next to a tiny trailer and parked the jeep. He and Ellie hopped out and waved for the kids to follow. They grabbed their things and tossed them to the ground, sending up another wonderful cloud of dust. They followed their supervisor over to a group of people standing under a tarp constructed tent. They were just sitting around in the shade drinking beers. One of their few relaxing moments of the day. 

"Hey guys, I'd like you all to meet our new partners. Teagan Evens and Ryan Huntington." The group of people whistled and cheered their greeting. Grant turned to face his new students. "I'm sure you'd get along just fine with everyone. They're really a great bunch of people, as you can see. Although usually not that lazy." He turned to face the group in mock disapproval. "Now I'd like you to meet Billy and we can begin on our real item of business."

"Great. I've been itching to see this skeleton since…ha, since I was born." Ryan pulled a handkerchief out of his back pocket and wiped dirt out of his eyes. Not because it was bothering him, but out of necessity to see. He'd never been in one area with so much dirt before and he loved every little grain of it. Teagan was soaking up the sound her boots made crunching in the dirt. In New York she didn't get to hear that much, unless she wanted to go crunch around in the dirt in Central Park. 

They followed Grant and Ellie back over to the trailer. The tiny tin box had one good thing going for it, it was air conditioned. Teagan walked in first and scanned the entire trailer with a quick glance before moving all the way inside. When everyone else was in Grant yelled towards the back of the trailer and another kid came out of a tiny room which could barely pass for a closet. Teagan figured the kid was her age, tall, muscular with curly dirty blond hair. 

"Billy Brennan, this is Ryan Huntington," Billy shook Ryan's hand, " and Teagan Evens." Billy took Teagan's hand and smiled. 

Billy was somewhat taken with Teagan. He'd grown up the youngest of 3 boys. Life with them had made him daring and tough. He'd never really had a girlfriend, his brothers took the gold in that department. So when it came to girls, he was a shy as a schoolboy. Plus most girls he ever had the chance to talk to found him to be too dull, dinosaurs on the brain. Girls in his hometown wanted the well dressed football quarterback. Teagan would be different though, he could tell. 

Her long, brown ponytail was coming lose and she had fly-aways all over the place. She showed no signs of fixing them. Her shorts and shirt, hands and face were already covered in a fine layer of dust. She didn't even seem to notice. And she had shook his hand without a second glance to the calluses and dirt. 

Teagan liked Billy instantly. She was like that with some people. Like her, he was coated in dust. Perfect. It suited their natural surroundings. She was so tired of city boys. She wanted someone who would be happiest out there on the dig with her. 

"It's good to meet both of you. I'm glad your finally here. Now maybe Dr. Grant will let us all in on the secret he's been keeping." Billy stepped back to stand beside Teagan and looked toward Grant expectantly. 

"I know that the three of you came here expecting to dig up a juvenile velociraptor. That isn't exactly true," Ellie said. 

"It was the intended purpose of your trip. And I'm sorry that things have changed. A pressing matter has come up in the past two weeks. I think you three should take a seat." Grant motioned to a dusty couch against the back wall. Billy, Ryan, and Teagan took a seat without taking their eyes off Grant. "I'm offering you a different opportunity now, a chance of a lifetime to some. But it is just that, a chance, a risk, and truthfully something so dangerous if you want to say no and board a plane back home, I will think nothing less of you as a person or professional."

Billy had been waiting in the trailer all day for Teagan and Ryan to show up. He hadn't seen the skeleton and was told that when the other two arrived an explanation would be given. That only left him seven hours to think up a million and a half reasons for the delay. Teagan and Ryan only had known there was a change in plan for five minutes, but both of them had quickly formulated a million explanations each. Ryan leaned forward, elbows on his knees, and listened intently to Grant. 

"I swore I would never come into any contact with Hammond again. His park, his ideas, his dinosaurs. Nothing. I would have to be crazy to put myself in that situation again. Well currently not only am I crazy enough to put myself there, but I'm crazy enough to bring you three along with me, back to his island."

"To…Jurassic Park," Ryan said. He began laughing. "That's rich."

"There will be a helicopter here in about ten minutes. Get your bags together and be ready." Ryan stopped laughing. After a pause Grant added, "I told you I was in a hurry."

"You're serious aren't you. You're going to drag us out to that God forsaken island."

"No, I'm not going to drag you. I told you, if you want to leave, go. You have ten minutes to decide."

"Wow, I thought you were brilliant, but man, you're crazy." Ryan stood up and put his hands on his hips. He walked to the middle of the trailer and began flinging cabinets open. "Where the hell do you keep the frickin' cups?"

"Ryan. Chill out. He said you didn't have to go," Teagan said. She didn't move from her seat on the couch. She was talking to the floor. Ryan stopped his frantic search and walked back to the couch. 

"Are you kidding me? I don't even have to ask, I know you're going. And if you're going, I'm going. All I'm wondering is if Billy has enough brains to walk out that trailer door now."

"Not a chance."

"Okay, then. Ten minutes. I'll see you all outside." Grant stood up and walked toward the door. Before he walked out he paused. "I want you all to understand the extreme danger of what I'm asking you. There is every possibility you will not come back alive." When no one said anything he left the trailer. Ellie hesitated a moment and then followed. 

"Don't you think what we're doing is a little unfair to those kids. They might think they know what Jurassic Park is, but Alan, they have no idea. They probably think like everyone else out there that they'll be safe. They know people died there, but they don't pay attention to that fact. We promised these kids a juvenile velociraptor skeleton, not an up close and personal, possibly deadly encounter with a live one."

"I know that. You know this was my last choice. I didn't choose people I didn't think could handle it. I've checked their backgrounds and in every possible aspect they are the best. We have to go out there and we can't go alone."

"Then why can't we take one of the guys. Edmund, or Josh, or geez, even Pete. Someone older, who can make a decision not based on what these kids are basing their decision on."

"And what's that?"

"They want to see a dinosaur. A skeleton would have meet their every expectation and now you're offering them a chance to see a walking, breathing one. You knew Alan, you knew they would come."

"You're right. In fact, I was counting on it." 

"You should have told them everything, let them know what they're walking into."

"You and I both know that wasn't an option. There isn't time."

"There's plenty of time, this is not a time sensitive issue. The dinosaurs aren't going anywhere."

"Hammond wanted us out there last week."

"Screw Hammond. We should have told them."

A deep rumble echoed across the sky, cutting off any further argument. Ellie and Grant both looked up toward the west, shielding their eyes from the setting sun. A helicopter roared into view. There were no markings on the side but Grant new where it was coming from. He ran back into the trailer and grabbed an overnight bag off the floor. The kids were still sitting on the couch. 

"'Copter's here, if you're coming, lets go." Grant walked out without waiting. Teagan got up and followed him, leaving the two boys behind. Billy stood up and dusted off his pants, showing dirt and grime onto the floor. He put his hand out to Ryan. 

"It's been nice knowing you," Billy said. 

"What, you're not going? But you just said you were." 

"Oh no, I'm going. But like I said, been nice knowing you. Get a good look around, we might not make it back." Billy picked his bag up off the floor and walked to the trailer door.

"What? What do you mean we might not make it back. Are you serious?" Ryan walked up to Billy. He looked him straight in the eye. Billy just laughed and pushed open the door, letting the hot air pouring in. 

"Hang on to your butts, we've got a long journey ahead," Billy said, walking out the door. Ryan followed, closing the door behind him. He jogged over to the jeep and picked up his bag. Teagan, Ellie, and Grant were already on the helicopter and Billy was throwing his stuff inside. Ryan ducked and made his was over, stopping once to turn and look at the sun set behind the mountains. 

Teagan had a million questions running through her mind. She wanted to know why they were going, what the catch was, what would be waiting for her there. She knew something on that island was very important or she wouldn't be on a possible one way trip to it with Dr. Alan Grant. 

He had many times since the first incident commented that no force on heaven or earth would get him to go back to Jurassic Park. Something had happened though, something only Grant could get a handle on, although apparently not without some help. 

Billy sat staring out the window thinking much the same as Teagan. He wanted to scream all those questions at Grant, but knew that would get no one anywhere except for angry. So he just bit his tongue and waited. Ryan had no questions running through his mind about what was ahead. He only wondered what he was leaving behind, and what he may possibly never see again. 

An hour into the trip Grant decided it was time to completely fill the kids in on the situation, before they reached their destination. Once the helicopter landed on Isla Nublar there would probably be no time for explanations, only action. 

He cleared his throat and everyone looked at him expectantly. He glimpsed out the window, suddenly wishing he was anywhere but on that plane faced with all those questioning eyes. He suddenly wished he had never dragged the poor kids to their possible destruction. He wanted to turn around and yell to the pilot to turn back. But instead he cleared his throat once more and began speaking. 

"I suppose it would have been more practical, if nothing more than ethical and moral to tell you what we're headed towards before I had you all on the helicopter. Truth is, there wasn't time. Not to try and ease the harshness of what I've done, but I needed you. You are the best for the task at hand. A lot rests on what we do on this island in the next few days. If the problem we're faced with escalates we could be looking at many more deaths, and a very real possibility of dinosaurs escaping. The problem we're facing is evolution."

"What about it. Everyone knew the dinosaurs would evolve. It was expected. Besides, it's not an imminent problem. No point in trying to stop it." Ryan said, leaning forward on his knees.

"I'm not talking about stopping it. It's too late for that."

"You mean they've already evolved. That's impossible. It's only been a few years. That would be the fastest evolution ever. That's mind bogglingly fast." Teagan commented. 

"I know. No one could have ever predicted the rate and degree of evolution that these animals are undergoing. It is mind boggling. But it's happening. And if it continues without intervention, it won't be long until these dinosaurs are on the mainland, taking back what would have been theirs." 

"You've got to be kidding me," Ryan said, shaking his head and leaning back into the seat. "I thought without human help they couldn't get off that island."

"I assure you, there is no kidding involved. These animals are taking on odd characteristics of evolution. They aren't evolving the way they were supposed to. It's almost more of a…" Ellie stopped, searching for a word. "Perhaps evolution isn't even the correct term to be associated with these changes. I would say mutation, abnormalities, those words are far more precise." Ellie ignored Ryan's inquiry about the dinos getting off the island. That was a concern for later.

"Mutation? Into what?" Teagan questioned, talking more towards Ellie than Grant. But it was Grant who answered. 

"Raptor claws have been found in purely T-Rex territory. Traces of dilophosaur venom have been found in areas known to be inhabited by raptors only." 

"So, they're migrating, changing their surroundings." Teagan said, stating the simplest and most logical of explanations. 

"No, they aren't. That was the first possibility that was looked into. It was quickly and easily crossed off the list. Aerial photography, computer analysis proved all the dinosaurs are still in their intended habitats, even though there are no more barriers keeping them there. Plus-"

"Hold up. No more barriers. What do you mean. Like the fences aren't electrified anymore?" Ryan once again sat upright. 

"The generators that supplied the power were cut off a long time ago. But most of the fences have also come down in weather, crosswinds. And the animals have done a fairly good job at taking them down themselves. Without the electricity, the fences were hardly an adequate enclosure."

"So we're going onto this island where the dinosaurs aren't even caged in anymore?"

"Right. Now I warned you this was going to be dangerous. I gave you the opportunity to leave."

"He did Ryan. You followed. And it's too late now." Teagan patted her cousin's hand, who returned the gesture with a slight scowl and turned away. "So you're sure they are all still where they were supposed to be?"

"Positive. They formed habitats while they were enclosed. They simply kept to their own places even after the park was shut down. A natures way sort of thing."

"So what other possibilities are on the list."

"Like Ellie was saying, mutation. The T-Rexes are taking on qualities of the raptors, the raptors are taking on qualities of the spitters. And who knows what else. Fact is, most of these dinosaurs where near unstoppable before, if they take on characteristics of each other, unstoppable won't be that far away."

"So the raptors can now spit venom or something?" Billy asked, bringing his voice into the conversation for the first time. 

"That's what we think. It's a little bit of an imagination stretch but what if something like a raptor and a teradon crossed, a flying raptor. Could you imagine."

"No, because like you said, it is a major imagination stretch. The wings of a teradon couldn't support a raptor. A raptor's body isn't built to fly. So even if one was born with wings, it would do no good."

"To quote the words of a friend 'life will find a way'. I didn't believe him the first time he said those words. But I won't shove them aside a second time. I also see the numerous problems with a raptor trying to fly. I too don't see how it could work. But I don't feel like tempting fate."

"Is that what you're afraid of, the dinosaurs flying off the island?" Ryan asked with a slight smirk on his face. Grants only reply was a shrug of his shoulders. 

Teagan had been watching and listening to the conversation, taking in every word. Now she spoke up again. "Dr. Grant, I follow all that you're saying. And I see the danger in it, assuming somehow the dinosaurs did leave Isla Nublar. But how are we to stop it, and more immediately, what caused it?" 

"After the park shut down Hammond didn't pull all of his men out immediately. He kept researchers and scientists in the park for nearly a year. It was at the end of that year that these mutations began showing up. They were pretty much ignored, until last year. When another group of researchers was sent in. They reported back once, with the same results the previous researchers had given. They turned up strong evidence of rapid mutation. After that though they never received another contact from them.

"Hammond was afraid to send anyone else in. But with government and legal action pressing in on him, he had to find out somehow exactly how bad the situation was. He sent in one more team of five and two made it out."

"So what are we, another research team being sent in to battle the forces?" Ryan questioned. 

"No, think of yourself as more of an extermination team. We're supposed to go in there and root out the mutations, the abnormalities."

"Why don't they just exterminate the whole island. Be done with the whole mess."

"That's what I thought. But it isn't my decision to make. I think, in fact I know, Hammond is still holding on to some minute hope that his island could succeed. It's ridiculous."

"So why did you agree to go along with this?" Teagan asked Grant.

"Because they needed someone with experience. And-"

"We don't have experience. We are as good as dead out there," Ryan said, cutting Grant off. 

"No you aren't. We're going to fill you in on all we know. You know enough about dinosaurs to be smart about what you're doing. You'll know when to lead and when to follow. We took a long time to choose who would come along with us and we're fully confident in your abilities."

"I just can't believe that you would up and go with all of this. And bringing other people into it. You always seemed like you would do whatever it took to keep yourself and more importantly other people away from this mess."

"I would. Actually that is the point, as I was about to say. Hammond is sending us in to exterminate, I'm going in to destroy. I know from an inside source that Hammond is sending me to bottle the pressure he is receiving from legal matters. To make it look like he is taking a positive action. But in reality those legal matters haven't changed Hammond, he is ever the entrepreneur. Within two weeks from now Hammond is sending in another team."

"He's a busy guy," Ryan cut in. 

"You have no idea. He is sending in another team to extract normal dinosaurs. He's going to bring them back to the mainland and start his park in San Francisco. Then after a matter of time, those dinosaurs will have mutated and he'll have mutated dinosaurs on the mainland. "

"He already tried to create the park over there. It failed."

"He's trying again. He thinks he's learned from his mistakes, but obviously not." 

"How are they going to let him do that?"

"The same way they were going to let him do it before."

"But after all that has happened? San Francisco is still going to let him? I mean they had a T-Rex running loose through the city!"

"Well yeah, but you know politics and law. Since Hammond has laid low and not made any moves, no steps have been taken to prevent him from acting in the future. Technically there is nothing saying Hammond cannot open his park." 

"So what is it you're trying to do. I'm so confused. Are you or are you not working for Hammond?" Billy asked, trying to clear everything up in his mind.

"I, we, are not. We simply mooched off Hammond, let him believe we were working for him, to get to the island and to get a moderate amount of supplies, with Hammond paying the bill. Once we're on the island, we're working for ourselves, destroying all that we can so that Hammond's next team won't be able to take dinosaurs off this island."

"You really think that'll work? That we'll be able to do enough damage." Teagan liked Grant's idea, but it was so large scale. 

"We do what damage we can to the dinosaurs, and then buildings, and then docks and landing pads. Anything and everything that we can. We are a five person demolition team." 

"You're risking all of our lives just to stop Hammond, why don't you leave it to someone else. Why don't you turn him in to the authorities?" Ryan asked.

"There is no one else to do it. No one else knows the island well enough, at least no one willing to destroy it. The authorities would just think I was crazy."

"Don't you think Hammond will press charges when he finds out what you did?"

"Most likely not. He wouldn't have a leg to stand on."

"Well I hope you have one darn good plan."

"If we work together and think this through we'll be fine. It's gonna be hard, I won't lie about that. But we can't leave a park for Hammond to come back to, there can't be anything here for his next team." 

"We're gonna die," Ryan said, marking his statement with a sigh. 

"If you listen, and pay attention you will make it off the island." The words sounded reassuring, but Teagan, Ryan and Billy noted the tone behind the words and the look in Grants face. Instead of feeling better, their stomachs dropped and they felt sure only their death lay ahead.

"Anyway, to answer your question about how this happened." Grant changed the subject and quickly gained the kids attention once again. "Research was extensive when they were creating these dinosaurs, extracting blood and DNA. But mistakes, human or nature, are inevitable. They obviously didn't show up immediately, but they are now. We think that perhaps the DNA was tainted. Two different species of dinosaur DNA mixed into the same blood sample from the mosquito, maybe such small amounts of one that it wasn't even picked up by the computers. Now though that DNA is being picked up in the dinosaurs and causing genetic mistakes. Then they begin breeding and before you know it, it isn't a genetic mistake, it's a new specie."

"So it's human error?" Billy said, rolling his eyes. 

"Most likely. It may have been the mosquitoes they were extracting blood from had fed off of two different dinosaurs, so it was carrying two different types of blood with DNA. Scientists may not have filtered the blood as well as they thought they did. DNA was still mixed."

"It's sort of like when they added frog DNA. It only filled in small gaps in the gene sequence, but it's presence resulted in an enormous genetic mishap. It was its presence alone allowed the dinosaurs to breed. So if there were only trace amounts of dilophosaur DNA mixed in with the raptor DNA, it's easy to see the sort of mishaps that could occur." Ellie entered the conversation once again, relating the current problem to one that had already been accepted; the dinosaurs breeding. 

"It makes sense, assuming that sort of genetic coding and genetic integration is possible," Billy took turns alternately staring at Ellie and then Grant. 

Once again it was Ellie that answered. "All we have now are theories. What we've told you is pretty much all we know. I'm going on that this sort of genetic integration is possible, because it's happening."

"You are sure without a doubt it's a mutation and not a researching error. They were seeing things that weren't really there." Ryan asked, still not completely ready to believe what he was hearing.

"I've seen photos, I'm sure," Grant said. "I'll answer the rest of your questions when we get there, when the time comes. You've had a lot thrown into your lap in the last half hour. Take some time to absorb it." Grant leaned back and pulled his hat down over his eyes. "Resting might be a good idea too, who knows how much rest we'll get once landed."

The conversation ended there. Ellie leaned her head against the window and closed her eyes. Ryan's eyes were glued to the ocean passing underneath. Teagan turned to talk to Billy, but he was furiously making notes in a notebook. She tried reading them, but his handwriting was to scribbled. So she leaned her head back and tried to fall into a sleep. It didn't come easily, but it came. 

The helicopter dropped suddenly, pushing Teagan hard against Billy. She awoke with a jerk and quickly righted herself. Billy was laughing and offered Teagan one half her seatbelt. She looked around and saw that everyone was now awake and quickly fastening their belts. She took the half from Billy and searched around the seat for the other half. Seconds later she was buckled and feeling more secure. 

She leaned forward to look out the window past Ryan. The island was beautiful. Trees everywhere, all she could see was green. The helicopter was descending into a narrow and deep valley into which a waterfall crashed. Next to the waterfall was a helipad marked with a giant, yellow X. 

"Once we land we'll do a quick check of equipment. All of our stuff was sent in yesterday. Then we'll get going." Grant was leaning forward as well. He didn't want to get off the helicopter for anything, but he couldn't help but look out the window with some degree of excitement. 

The helicopter landed rather smoothly and Grant swung the door open. Memories rushed at him right then. He clearly remembered seeing the island for the first time. The two jeeps marked with the Jurassic Park logo, waiting to take them to the visitor's center. He pushed those thoughts away and turned to motion the others to get out. Once everyone was moved off the pad he gave a wave to the pilot and the helicopter ascended once again. 

"Everyone wave goodbye to your last chance off this island," Ryan mumbled, watching the helicopter fly away. 

Just like before two jeeps awaited the visitors. This time they were also accompanied by a high-tech camper/trailer, much like the one used by the team sent to Site B. Grant walked over to the camper and unlocked the door. Inside was everything Hammond had thought they would need for the next few days. Of course it wouldn't be enough to support Grant's plan. He was tempted to go check the weapon's closet anyway, but Billy and Teagan came in. 

"So now we've heard the story, we've seen the goods, what's the action?" Billy asked. He walked around the trailer surveying everything. He flipped a few switches and turned the weather satellite on. Seeing the screen flick on he stopped and studied it. "Looks like we've got a storm coming."

"Well that would just figure. Because Murphy's Law hates me." Grant walked over and looked over Billy's shoulder. "Looks big, and it looks like it's going to hit by morning."

"So do we go ahead and start, or wait it out?" Teagan asked, wandering over to the weapon's closet.

"We wait. Once we get started I don't want to stop. I want to get it all done and get off this island."

"Then why don't we just start. We might as well get some stuff done while we can." Billy turned the monitor back off and turned to face Grant. 

"Because I know we can't finish it all by the time this storm hits. It's very possible it will hit in the next few hours."

"So we go out and come back in when it starts to rain."

"Billy, please. I do not want to go out into the field twice. It will take enough to get all of us out there once."

The conversation stopped. Teagan was just about to open the door to the weapon's closet. "Come on. I want to get moving." Grant motioned for the two to follow him back outside. 

Ellie had started one of the jeeps and pulled it into the lead on the trail. "Teagan why don't you come with me." Ellie waved her forward, she grabbed her stuff and threw it in the back. "Grant drive the camper, Billy and Ryan, you two follow me with the other jeep." 

Grant handed Billy a set of keys and turned back to the camper, getting inside and closing the door. He didn't hesitate a second to lock the door behind him. Once everyone was in their respective vehicles they moved out. 

They immediately passed through two extremely large metal gates. Signs warned of high voltage, but there was no longer any danger now that the power was out. The gates hung open and didn't slow them down any.

After fifteen minutes of driving the first building appeared. It was still in good shape, not much damage done to the outside over the years. Teagan guessed it was the visitor's center and voiced that much to Ellie. 

"You got it, the scene of the final show down. We're going to base here. It's the most convenient spot. Plus there may still be things inside that we can use." She pulled the jeep up and over the automated track for the tour. She cut the engine and got out. Billy pulled in behind them and Grant parked the trailer a little further out. 

No one moved up the steps. They all just stood there, looking around. Ellie couldn't bring herself to go inside. She remembered all too well what had happened last time she'd been in that very spot. And the memories did nothing to warm her insides. At last Billy moved forward and the other two kids followed. Ellie waited for Grant. 

Ryan thought outside may have looked undamaged, but the inside was a whole different story. Pieces of an unknown skeleton lay all over the floor, after a closer look at some of the major bones Ryan identified it as a T-Rex. It looked like it had once hung from the ceiling, but had come down long ago. A banner lay across with length of the lobby saying something about dinosaurs ruling the earth. Teagan stepped over the banner into the center of the skeleton mess. She turned, checking out all angles of the room. Ryan cautiously moved a few steps up a curving staircase. 

Ellie and Grant slowly moved in through the doors. The scene replaying in each of their minds. _They stood in the center of the room, trying to guard Tim and Lex. They had raptors on every side. No where to go. A T-Rex burst in through the side wall and attacked a raptor, evoking an attack from the others. They escaped because their enemy had made a mistake. _

Other than the mess they had made long ago, the front lobby seemed unharmed by the years. The dinosaurs hadn't seemed to pay it any mind. The plants in the lobby had even managed to survive by some miracle. Grant thought it highly unlikely that the dinos had ventured upstairs and hoped it would be in a similar condition. 

Teagan was walking around reading various billboards that were put up for the education of visitors. Even though she knew how InGen had recreated the dinosaurs, reading it from the source was amazing. However, she noted that they had skimmed over a few of the more technical details. Billy had joined Ryan on the stairs and Ellie and Grant began walking toward them. Teagan heard their motion and looked over, following Grant and Ellie after one last glance at the billboard. 

The group moved up the stairs, keeping their eyes and ears open for signs of dinosaurs. Just because Grant thought it was unlikely they were upstairs, didn't mean it was impossible. When they reached the top landing they all stood and took a detailed look around. Ellie turned around to look back down the stairs to make sure nothing was following them. No one saw anything so they moved forward. 

The upstairs was mainly composed of offices and a few minor labs. Grant remembered there were also several playrooms set up for infant dinos. He vividly remembered watching a woman play with a juvenile velociraptor in one of the rooms. Billy and Ryan walked into the closest office. Things were still in order. When the workers had left work for that weekend long ago, they had fully expected to come back on Monday. 

Billy opened a few drawers but found nothing of interest. He turned to leave the office but something in the corner caught his eyes. He took a few steps closer and squatted down to look at it. Dino droppings. They didn't look that old either. 

"Dr. Grant," he yelled out into the hall. "I think we should definitely watch…out…" He trailed off then remained silent. Listening. The sound came again a second later. A low hiss. It sounded like a snake, but Billy knew better. He walked out into the hall, still intent on listening. The others all stood statue still, trying to figure out which direction the sound came from. 

Teagan started back to the stairs. She put her foot on the first step then stumbled backwards. Two crests appeared, raised over sharp eyes. Then more of the pebbly gray head. It bobbed a few times as Teagan scrambled into a standing position and quickly backed up. She never took her eyes off the figure on the stairs. Not looking where she was going she backed right into Billy. 

He grabbed her shoulders and lightly pushed her behind him, taking a few steps forward. He didn't have to go far to see what was standing on the steps, waiting for them. The slightly elongated snout filled with razor-sharp teeth, rusty colors striped down over its sides, and intelligent, piercing eyes gave the species away immediately. 

"Raptor. He's just standing there."

"He's just blocking our exit. They're pack hunters. This one's not the attacker, it's the distraction." Grant turned in a circle, looking for the others raptors he knew were there. The kids walked over to Grant and Ellie and they all moved together into a tight group, someone looking in every direction. The only raptor they could see was the one on the stairs. With Ryan keeping an eye on that one, they slowly moved off down the hall. 

They passed several offices on the right, the playrooms on the left. At the end of the hall was a single steel door. Grant realized his mistake the second he made it. They shouldn't have been moving down the hall. They were trapping themselves. Another hiss issued from an office back towards the stairs. They stopped, standing tense. 

A raptor jumped lightly through the broken office window and blocked the exit out of the hall. It lowered its head down to the ground and took another step forward, its six-inch claw clicking on the linoleum. Without another thought the group broke and scattered into different rooms. While splitting up may not have been the thing to do, the raptor paused, not sure which to follow. 

Teagan grabbed the door handle closest to her and pulled. Nothing happened. In her panic she figured it was probably locked. She spared a quick glance over at the raptor whose indecision was over. 

Its head and neck were low, even with his outstretched tail. The two formed perfect balance for it as it ran, straight for Teagan. She grabbed the handle again and pushed, nothing happened. She yelled in frustration and turned to face the raptor, who was only six feet in front of her. The hall was narrow, very narrow, and Teagan prayed she could use that to her advantage. When the raptor was nearly on top of her she crouched as low as she could and moved to the other side of the hall, keeping one leg outstretched behind her. 

Without time to react the raptor slammed into her leg and went down on the other side of it. Its claw caught Teagan's calf and she let out a wail of pain. She didn't have time for that though. She pulled herself up with a door handle turning it in the process. She took a quick moment to be grateful that the door had opened. She turned around and slammed the door, only catching a glimpse of the raptor struggling to get up. She turned the lock and leaned against the door, struggling to catch her breath. She slumped down to the floor. 

Billy heard Teagan yell and started toward the door. He was about to open it and step out into the hall when he heard another door slam. He looked out the office window and Teagan was no longer in the hall. The raptor was sprawled on the ground, angrily hissing and growling, struggling to get up and turned around in the narrow hall. Billy didn't know where the others were, what rooms they had all run to. But he knew he was just going to sit tight until the raptor was long gone. 

The raptor was angry. It had been tricked out of a meal and Ryan figured if it had any pride, it was severely bruised. He was leaning on desk in a tiny office trying to get his heart to stop pounding and his breathing back to normal. Grant stood by the door, looking out the tiny window. Ryan had been watching up to the point that he saw Teagan safely get away. He had been ready to charge out there and distract the stupid beast, but Grant had held him back.

"Start looking in desk drawers. I remember Hammond telling me every room in the place was equipped with emergency gear in case of a dino break out. Not that he thought it would ever happen." 

With minimal light coming in from the hallway they began opening desk drawers and cabinets. All Ryan came up with was a flashlight from the bottom desk drawer. Grant came up a little more successful, a 9 mm in his right hand. 

"That's supposed to stop a velociraptor?"

"Supposed to. It'd have to be to the head, or it would just slow the thing down."

"Aw man, I want something bigger than that. You brought something bigger than that right?"

"What do you want, a shotgun?" Grant moved back to the door. The raptor had righted itself and was snorting at the bottom of the door Teagan was behind. It began digging at the floor, trying to get under the door. After a second of that it began throwing its body at the door. 

"No. I want an Uzi." Grant turned and smiled at the kid. Then turned his attention back to the raptor. Without making a sound he opened the door and put one foot out into the hallway. The raptor continued scratching and pushing at the door, then stopped as if someone had pushed a pause button. Grant raised his arms and aimed for the side of the raptor's head. Unaware of the danger it was in the raptor raised it's arm to the door handle and hooked its claws around it. 

Grant didn't wait anther second, he already knew they could open doors. He pulled the trigger and held his breath. The raptor went down with a thud. 

Ryan pushed his way out behind Grant. He looked down the hallway in both directions then took a few steps toward the raptor. He knew not to assume, but he was pretty sure it was dead, a pool of blood was collecting around it's head. After a moment of silence the door opened and Teagan walked out. She quickly stepped over the raptor and came up to Ryan. 

"Screw Hammond. This island should have been bombed a long time ago." 

"You have a whole different view of the things once they try to eat you, don't you?" Grant opened a few of the office doors, looking for Billy and Ellie.

"Sure do. Where'd you get that?" Teagan pointed to the gun in Grant's hand. 

"In the office. We should check the rest of them, there's probably more."

Billy came out of an office next to the one Ryan and Grant had been hiding in. "That's more like it," he said, motioning to the dead animal. "I thought I would love seeing these things, thought it would be amazing. And it was, til they came after us."

"No kidding man." Ryan nodded in agreement. Grant had disappeared into another office and game out with another gun, identical to the one he held. "Those are not going to do us much good. Shooting at a charging raptor with that, is going to be like swatting a stick at a charging rhino."

"Would you rather walk around with nothing, or a stick?" Grant handed Ryan the gun and moved into another office. 

Ellie came out of the last office in the hall, a shotgun in her hands. 

"Oh sure, she runs into the office with the shotgun." Ryan mumbled. 

"I think we should get out of this hall. Probably out of this building." She turned to the steel door and turned the handle sharply. The door swung open. 

Ellie tentatively put one foot into the room on the other side of the door. She stuck the barrel of the shotgun through the opening and followed with the rest of her body. Grant walked in behind her, followed closely by the three kids. Ellie and Grant walked forward, scanning the room with the gun. Billy and Ryan followed. 

Teagan stayed by the door, holding it open. Her knees were slightly bent, giving her the edge she would need to run if the need arose. 

The room was crowded with computer terminals. Every available table top had a computer on it, those not covered with computers held stacks of printed paper and other mundane office supplies. There was one row of windows overlooking the tree tops, letting in the evening sun. Next to the row of windows, a single unmarked door. One other window looked into one of the playrooms. Ryan walked over to a computer and flicked the on switch. Nothing happened.

"No power, remember," Ellie said, turning in a slow circle, surveying every inch of the room for danger. The setting sun was throwing the corners of the room into shadow, making Ellie uneasy. 

"Yeah, how could I forget. We're on this island without the dinosaur crispers." Billy gave Ryan an odd look. " The electric fences. No electric fences to help, no computers to help, no phones to call for help, not a single prayer for help. Not on this island."

"This used to be one of the main control rooms. They could virtually run the whole island from this one room. It was also designed to be able to be run with minimal staff," Grant explained. 

Teagan had not strayed from the door. She was looking from computer monitor to computer monitor, like she thought one might suddenly flick on. She then began looking for another exit and entrance to the room and found only one, the door by the windows. She squinted to see through the small, dirty window but all she saw were tree tops. Which meant they were relatively high up. A look through the row of windows confirmed that.

Billy turned to see what Teagan was doing, why she had not followed the others the rest of the way into the room. He pivoted on his foot then froze. His breath caught in his throat and he could not make a single noise. He made a few frantic gestures to Teagan who caught them and looked at him quizzically. 

"What?" Her voice and confused looks snapped Billy out of it. 

"SHUT THE DOOR! SHUT THE DOOR NOW!" He ran toward Teagan who turned around to look behind her. She froze in fear for a split second then moved into action, grabbing the edge of the door. She slammed it shut and leaned her back against it. The others turned at Billy's shout. 

The raptor that had been charging at her from down the hall slammed into the door, jarring Teagan slightly. Billy pushed his body against the door also and looked for a lock. 

"The locks! They're computer automated aren't they?!" Billy pushed away from the door, Teagan put even more of her wait against it, bracing her feet against the floor. Ellie stood a few feet away, gun trained on the crack in the door, in case the raptor got in despite their efforts. Grant and Ryan were frantically pushing computer monitors to the floor, clearing off a large metal table. The monitors smashed into the floor and littered the surrounding area with shards of glass. 

Billy ran over to the table and helped Ryan and Grant drag it over. Teagan moved out of the way, letting the door slip open against the raptor's force. Ellie fired one shot and then the door was closed again, barricaded with the desk. 

Without wasting a second Grant turned from the blocked door and searched for another exit. 

"There, over there." Teagan pointed at the exit she had seen earlier and ran over to it, the others following. They were nearly at it when it flung open. Another raptor stood perched on the fire escape that the door led to. 

"They can open doors?!" Teagan yelled.

"If they aren't locked!" Grant yelled back.

The raptor let out a low hiss and took a step into the room. Teagan backpedaled and turned, looking for an alternate escape. Ellie raised the gun and let off a shot. She had not taken time to aim and the bullet harmlessly ricocheted off the metal doorjamb. The raptor continued to come at them, unfazed. 

"I don't have any more ammo." The gun being useless to her in any other way, Ellie hurled it at the advancing raptor. It hit it in the chest, but did nothing to slow it down. The other raptor was still banging away at their only other exit. 

Grant instinctively looked up. He knew exits sometimes had to be taken in an ascending fashion. They were in luck. There was a large skylight in the center of the ceiling. If they put a chair up on one of the desks, they could easily reach it. Of course if there was a raptor on the roof, their luck ran out. 

Grant grabbed the chair closest to him that didn't roll and found a table situated under the window. He pushed two more computers to the floor and threw the chair up in their place. He looked around the room for one more tool necessary to make their escape. The gun would have been useful, but it now lay behind the raptor. Everyone stared looking at Grant, then taking quick glances back to the raptor inside the room and at the door the other raptor was trying to break down. 

Billy was stuck staring at Grant, trying to work out the problem it was evident he was having. "The gun."

"We can't get it now."

"No, the one under your belt." Grant looked down and saw the 9 mm. _I knew there was a reason I brought these kids along. _He backed away from the table and fired one shot directly into the middle of the window. The glass shattered and rained down onto the table and floor. 

"Come on, come on!" The shot had jarred the raptor and he hopped from foot to foot, agitated. Ellie ran forward and jumped onto the table.

"Ellie, here." Ryan handed her the 9mm Grant had given him and she shoved it under her belt, then grabbed the edge of the window and pulled herself up on the roof.

"It's all clear," she yelled back down, thankful she had no need for the gun...yet. Ryan pulled himself up next, followed by Teagan, who quickly stood up and looked around the roof. A light rain had begun to fall and mist was rolling down into the valley, the storm had arrived. She heard the raptor hiss again from inside.

Billy's fingers grasped the sides of the window. He immediately let out a shout of pain and pulled his hands away from the window frame. Blood was left behind where his hand had been. A large shard of glass had remained in the frame and had sliced open his palm. There was no movement at the window frame for a minute and Ellie began to worry. 

Teagan walked away from the skylight and over to the edge of the roof and looked down. Below the edge was the fire escape and the still-open-door that the raptor had entered through. After a second of hesitation she jumped down onto the metal escape. 

"Teagan! What are you doing?!" Ryan started after her but Ellie called him back. 

"Ryan, I need your help with Billy. He can't pull himself up, his hand is cut too bad." Ryan didn't move, only stared at the edge his cousin and disappeared from. "Ryan! Now!" He pushed aside his concern for Teagan and jogged back to help Ellie pull Billy up onto the roof. 

Teagan squatted down into the jump but quickly stood up again. The raptor had heard the metal clang and turned to face her. She didn't waste another second staring at it, but pushed the door shut. Trapping it inside. This door was equipped with a deadlock on the outside. A strange feature, but Teagan slid it into place and was thankful for it. She backed up against the railing and tried to see back up on the roof. A second later Ryan and Billy's faces appeared over the edge and they jumped down to join her, Billy's hand leaving a thin trail of blood behind. Teagan ripped off a strip of her shirt and began to wrap his hand. 

Grant grasped the edges of the window and pulled himself up, Ellie helping as much as she could. He kicked the chair off the desk before pulling himself all the way out, knowing perfectly well it wouldn't help them at all. As soon as he was on the roof he jumped up and grabbed Ellie's hand. They ran to the edge of the roof and jumped down to the escape. He glanced around to make sure everyone was accounted for, then pushed Teagan towards the ladder that led down to the ground. 

The raptor that Teagan had trapped inside had been banging against the door, trying to get out, much like the other raptor that had been trying to get in. As Ryan began down the ladder after Teagan the banging stopped. Grant heard one low growl and then nothing. He ushered for Billy to hurry and start down. Grant heard another hiss from the raptor. This time it reached his ears from up on the roof. The raptor had jumped through the window and onto the roof, probably with no problem at all. 

"GO! The trailer!" He threw the keys down to Ryan then pushed Ellie to the ladder. As soon as she was out of the way Grant began to make his way down. Halfway to the ground he heard another loud clang of metal, he glanced up. The raptor stood at the edge of the fire escape, lowering his head down, hissing and growling. It had not yet figured out how to follow them down, but Grant had no doubt in moments the raptor would simply jump down. 

"Ellie! Jump, just jump!" He turned as best as he could to watch her. She turned and let go of the railing, jumping and landing hard. She went down when she landed and rolled out of the way. Grant looked up once more and the raptor was gone. Without another thought he jumped and landed next to Ellie. He didn't stop to think where the raptor was, he just followed Ellie around the building to the front. 

He didn't see the kids as they reached the front drive and took a moment to pray they had reached the trailer. Ellie was a few steps ahead of him, running flat out. As she passed the front steps she saw two heads bobbing lightly inside the glass doors. As Grant ran by, the two bobbing heads stepped outside and immediately gave chase. They were done playing games with their meal. 

The trailer door loomed twenty feet in front of them…ten feet. At five feet the side door flung open and Ryan backed away to allow Ellie and Grant to stumble in. They fell to the floor, gasping for air, thankful to still be breathing. Ryan slammed the door shut and engaged the lock. 

No one moved for at least five minutes. They all just sat there, catching their breath and letting their heartbeat return to normal. The raptors had circled the trailer a few times but made no attempt to get in. Now they were no where in sight.

Ryan and Billy sat at a small table built into the trailer wall. A small puddle of blood was forming under Billy's hand.

"We'd better get you cleaned up." Ellie got up off the floor and went to the medical cabinet. She pulled down some bandages and tape and some other things to clean wounds with. With her arms full she joined the boys at the table and began cleaning Billy's hand. A few minutes later it was neatly wrapped in gauze. Teagan pulled herself up off the floor and hobbled over to the table. Running to the trailer had reopened the gash she had received from the raptor. 

"When did you do that?" Ellie asked when Teagan put her foot up on a chair.

"When I tripped the raptor, his claw caught me." Ellie cleaned some dirt out of the cut and bandaged it up. 

"Anyone else?" No one moved. 

"I think we should just leave. We haven't actually done anything yet and two of us have been hurt," Ryan suggested. 

"That would mean we'd been hurt for nothing. I vote we stay and finish the job." Billy held up his uninjured hand in vote. 

"I'm with him." Teagan also held up her hand. Ryan looked back and forth between Ellie and Grant. Ellie slowly raised her hand and Grant followed. Ryan shook his head then slowly raised his hand into the air. 

Ellie put the supplies away and went into the kitchen. She opened some cabinets and pulled an array of junk food out. She threw the stuff on the table and everyone dug in. Eating correctly was not high on their list of things to do while on this island. It lay somewhere just above 'get eaten by a dinosaur'. 

"So how are we going to get rid of enough dinosaurs to discourage the next team?" Ryan asked, wiping his cheese-doodle-cheese-covered-fingers on a napkin. "How many dinosaurs are on this island?"

"Somewhere between two and three hundred at the last count."

"Whoa. This is impossible." 

Grant closed the bag of pretzels he'd been eating out of and folded his hands. "We just have to wipe out what we can. And give some degree of focus to nests."

"No matter what we do, there will be something for the next team to bring back to the mainland."

"I know. I'm hoping we can do enough to discourage Hammond, just get him to stop. Or shed more light on what he's busily been doing behind closed doors. Besides, like I said, we're going to take out the docks as well, his next team is going to have a hard time even getting on the island." 

A beeping filled the trailer and pulled everyone's attention from the window. A red button was flashing on a phone attached to the wall. Teagan was closest so she picked it up.

"Hello. This is Teagan." There was a pause as she listened. When she replied her tone had dropped. "Yeah, just a second." 

She got up and handed the phone to Grant. "It's our wonderful Mr. Hammond."

Grant took the phone from Teagan and put it up to his ear.   
"I trust everything is going well over there?" Hammond asked in his usual cheery voice. 

"Oh yeah. Perfectly. No trouble getting here." Grant stood up and turned his back to the rest of the trailer's occupants. 

"Any trouble of any other sort?"

"Run in with some raptors. Only slight injuries."

"Good good. I knew I picked the right man for the job." 

Grant rolled his eyes. "You sure did." 

"Well I'm sure you're busy. I'll let you get back to work."

Grant suppressed a laugh at the irony of the whole conversation and hung the phone back on the wall. 

"What did he want?" Ryan asked.

"Like you couldn't guess," Teagan replied. 

"We don't have weapon power to do much damage," Ellie pointed out. "We just came equipped to wipe out isolated dinosaurs per Hammond's instructions."

"I know. We're going to have to pick up some more stuff."

"From where?" Billy asked. His face showed the fear he was feeling, already knowing the answer to his question. 

"We'll have to go back out and check the weapons shed. I doubt they cleared anything out of there. Plus the maintenance shed, there were some weapons stored in there. There's an emergency bunker under the visitor's center. They're all equipped with heavy weaponry." Grant emphasized the word heavy. 

"Wonderful. I swear, we are going to get killed before we even begin to wipe anything out." Ryan stood up and stretched out his arms and legs. 

"We should have left you at home," Teagan said, glaring at Ryan. "All you do is complain and make comments."

"That's just the way I am and you know it. Lay off."

"You aren't helping matters at all."

"And I suppose you think you are?"

"Hey! Stop it both of you. Now is not the time to start this. There is no time for this. We're going to have to go out there tonight, and we're all going to have to go, and we're going to have to split up. There is too much to cover in a short time. Now we still have to plan out the process for tomorrow, so we can either plan now, or go out there now and get the weapons."

"Lets get the weapons. No sense in planning if we're just going to end up dying getting the weapons," Ryan said, dodging Teagan's flying fist. 

"Fine. We figure out who goes where, and then we get this over with."

Grant turned once again to face the window. He was trying to figure out who would to where and with who. He knew he and Ellie would have to split up and split the kids up between them. He figured he would put Teagan and Billy with Ellie and he would take Ryan. His sole reasoning was that he believed if the cousins were together it could impair their judgment. Judgment was sometimes the only thing that could keep you alive. 

"Ok, lets get this done with. Ryan you come with me, we'll go to the emergency bunker. The three of you go to the maintenance shed and weapons shed. As soon as you have what we need, get back to the trailer." 

"What kind of weapons do you have that we can use now?" Teagan asked, looking around the trailer. 

"Well here's the question we have to ask ourselves now. We have no idea what we'll find out there. So do we use any of the stuff we brought, or do we save it?" Ellie asked. 

"Use it," everyone said in unison. 

"Yeah, I think so too." She went over and opened the weapons closet. 

Hammond was furious. Grant had lied to him. When the pilot had dropped off the team he had quickly made contact with Hammond to fill him in on Grant's plan, which he had learned by eavesdropping over the headsets. Hammond always tried to see the best in people giving them the benefit of the doubt, hence the call to Grant. But this time, despite Grant's claims that all was well Hammond knew Grant was up to something. What infuriated Hammond the most was the lack of control he had over the situation. Grant would go ahead and do whatever he wanted, and from California there wasn't a thing Hammond could do to stop him. 

There were things he could do to Grant when he got back, but Hammond really didn't want to take any type of legal action with Alan Grant. He had a certain respect for him as a man and a professional, and the thought of being in a legal battle with him did nothing to calm John. 

He picked up the phone and began to dial his lawyer. Before he hit the last number he stopped. In his fury he had overlooked Site B. Isla Nublar was the Disney Land, but Isla Sorna was the Disney World. 

Even if Grant somehow managed to destroy ever dinosaur on the former Jurassic Park island, there would still be all of Site B. Site B held all the same species as Jurassic Park plus some. And these dinosaurs could prove to be even more useful and profitable, since they were completely independent of human help. Hammond could now imagine a theme park in San Francisco where he would only have to hire minimum staff to watch over the dinosaurs.

Hammond began to laugh. "You go right ahead Mr. Grant. You go ahead and make a game park out of my island." He stopped laughing and stood up. "Now why didn't I think of that before. A game park…" 

Ellie pulled out a large gun and handed it to Teagan. 

"What's this do? Doesn't look like anything I've ever seen," Teagan asked, putting the strap over her shoulder. 

"It's actually a dart gun."

"A dart gun? You've got to be kidding me."

"No. It shoots darts with enough sedative in them to take out a charging elephant in about thirty seconds. It's never been tested, but two darts might do the same for a Rex. Any of the other dinos for sure. "

"Excellent. Ya know, except for those initial thirty seconds."

"During which I would suggest you run." Ellie took out another of the dart guns and handed it to Grant. She distributed other weapons to everyone and closed the closet door. She pulled open a drawer next to the closet and handed a box of extra darts to both Teagan and Grant. Extra ammo went to the others also. 

"We should save the rest for later."

"Are we ready to do this thing?" Grant asked. He looked around at everyone. No one said anything, Teagan nodded her head then started for the door. Ellie and Billy followed her and walked out into the now torrential rain. Before they had moved off very far Grant and Ryan came out of the trailer and started towards the visitor's center. 

Ellie took the lead from Teagan and began around the building. She kept her weapon at the ready and constantly moved her head from side to side looking for danger. Deep in her mind she knew she would never see an attack before it hit her anyway. 

The maintenance shed was located behind the original raptor pen. They walked down a narrow dirt path that ran parallel to the visitor's center and came upon the big steel structure of the raptor cage. The bars of the cage were twisted up and out leaving a large gap in the holding pen, which no longer held anything. The raptors had escaped long ago. 

"If that was where the raptor pen was then this area would most likely currently be the raptor's habitat, right?" Teagan asked. 

"I'm sure of it," was Ellie's reply. 

"So probably no other dinos around?" Billy walked slower than the two girls, keeping an eye on what they had their backs on. 

"The Rex might wander into the territory occasionally. He did four years ago. He might have claimed some of it or lost it back to the raptors. Hard to say. I'm not entirely sure how territorial these dinosaurs are, so there could be overlapping habitats or territories."

Ellie couldn't tear her eyes off of the old raptor pen. She had seen the carnage those animals were capable of, in and out of that pen. A high pitched chirping interrupted her trance and she tore her eyes away from the pen. She turned her head toward the noise, then snapped it around in the opposite direction. If it was a raptor, the attack would be coming from the opposite direction as the distraction. She saw nothing, but heard the squeak again. It didn't sound like raptor. 

"Compys," Teagan muttered. Ellie turned back toward the vocalization and saw a group of six or seven Compsognathus'. They only stood about a foot off the ground and could be characterized as a Jurassic chicken, but they could be nasty. Although they were scavengers, in large groups it was possible they would take the risk of bringing something down themselves. 

"I don't think they'll do anything now. But if we get split up-" Teagan shot Ellie a look as she said that. "If we get split up and you see a group of them, run and make sure you don't trip."

The compys paused and watched them. Perhaps hoping in their tiny brains that one of them would suddenly fall to the ground injured or conveniently dead and supply them with a snack. When the foot-highs realized that was not a possibility, they moved along. As did Ellie, Teagan, and Billy. 

They rounded the damaged raptor cage and Ellie recognized the trail that ran from the raptor pen to the maintenance shed. Last time she'd walked down it she had lost a friend and nearly her own life. 

"Ok, you know that theory that you should never even try to outrun a dog or bear or anything. Cause you don't stand a chance?" Ellie asked. She knew she was just sorta blabbing, but she was scared. 

"Yeah," Teagan said uncertainly. Billy nodded his head. 

"Well at the moment, I say to hell with that theory. I'm running the rest of the way to the building. If I turn around when I get there and you're right behind me, great. If not, I'll be waiting for you inside."

"Ellie…" Teagan started to say something then stopped. She began again. "You've got to keep your cool."

"I know. And once safely inside, I'll take a minute to collect it once again. But not here, not now." With that she turned and began to run. Billy and Teagan followed without hesitation. They reached the shed door with none of the expected problems. Ellie flung open the steel door and waited for the kids to step in before she slammed it shut once again. 

She leaned her back against the cool steel and took big breaths of stale air. Seeing the pen had shaken her. She couldn't figure out why. She'd already had a run in with the raptors and made it out without losing it. But as she had stood there looking at the pen, the trip to the shed with Muldoon had replayed and rattled her severely. As she continued to breath her heart slowed and her nerves calmed. She stood back up and looked around. Teagan and Billy were no longer around. 

Ryan and Grant ran right back into the visitor's center without a pause. Ryan stayed a step behind Grant, since only Grant knew where he was going. He started towards the winding staircase they had gone up before. 

"Whoa man, I'm not going back up there. Weapons or not, no way," Ryan said, stopping short. 

"I'm not going up the stairs. I'm going under them." Grant walked to a door in the wall underneath the stairs.

"Well now that's a different story." Ryan jogged to catch up to Grant. They stepped through the door and closed themselves into a dark hall. Grant clicked on the flashlight he had grabbed from the trailer. The hallway lit up and they proceeded. 

Ten feet down, the hallway turned into a staircase leading into the emergency bunker. Slowly taking the stairs one at a time the pair headed down. The closer to the bunker they got the colder it got, and a musty moldy smell filled the air. They finally reached the bottom and Grant stepped aside so Ryan could come up beside him. 

The room was circular which kept shadows from forming. It was all concrete which made it very cold and made every minuscule noise echo. Bookshelves and metal cabinets circled half of the room. The bookshelves held candles, matches, flashlights, first aide kits and all sorts of emergency gear. Ryan could only guess at what was in the metal cabinets. Two cots were laid out side by side on the other side of the room. Insert two huge trunks and you had the decor of the room. 

Grant handed Ryan the flashlight and walked over to the first metal cabinet. He pulled open the doors. The metal clang echoed through the room, hurting Ryan's ears. The cabinet was filled with weapons. 

Ryan walked over his jaw slightly dropped. "I'm thinking coming out here was definitely a good plan. We're gonna be an army of five."

"We can't take all of this stuff. Too much to carry. And I'd rather not take multiple trips into here. We'll take the best stuff."

"Which would be?" Ryan never was and never would be a weapons buff. He could probably figure out how to shoot any of the stuff he was given, he was betting his life on that fact. But when it came to actually knowing what they did, he had no idea. Grant didn't answer him but handed him two large guns. 

"Can you carry those alright?"

"Yeah, these aren't too heavy. Show me how to shoot." Grant stopped his trek to one of the trunks and turned around. He walked back over to Ryan and took one of the guns from his arms. He positioned the stock under his arm and pointed the forearm at the far wall. He wrapped his finger around the trigger and mock-pulled on it. 

"Boom." He handed the gun back to Ryan and headed back towards the trunk. There was a rusted lock on it but he simply took the butt of one of his guns and slammed it against the padlock. It broke with no resistance and clattered to the floor. The lid creaked loudly when it was opened and dumped piles of dust and dirt to the floor. Grant pulled out a fabric bag and began throwing small boxes into it. 

"What's that?" Ryan asked, coming forward. 

"Extra ammo."

"Oh, well that is a good thing."

"You bet." Grant filled the bag to the top and opened the other trunk, repeating the process. When he was done filling the second bag he handed it to Ryan. "Guns are loaded now, make sure the safety is off before we go back out there." Ryan gave him a blank look. Grant sighed and took a step closer, turning a knob. "Now it is off, to turn it back on you do this." Grant showed him and then switched it back off. 

"Make sure you remember when you turn it off, so you don't go to shoot at a charging raptor and realize you have the safety on a fraction of a second too late." Ryan's breath caught at Grant's comment. He glanced down one last time to double check the safety was off and then followed Grant back towards the stairs. 

"Teagan! Billy!" Ellie quickly stood up, wiping rain out of her eyes and off her face, and pushing some loose hair behind her ears. 

"We're down here." Billy's voice floated up from down below. 

Ellie took a few steps forward and saw the stairs leading down to the lower level. Holding onto the railing she made her way down stairs. She cursed herself for not bringing a flashlight, she could barely see the steps in front of her. When she reached the bottom she saw Teagan and Billy opening cabinets and boxes. The electricity panel for the fences caged in against the back wall. Ellie shuddered to think that there might be a rotting human arm back there. _Ray Arnold, he was a good man. Didn't stand much of a chance out here though. Neither do we for that - _

"We weren't sure how much time you would need, so we went ahead and started looking," Teagan said, interrupting Ellie's thoughts. Teagan closed the cabinet she was looking in and moved onto the next one. "We haven't actually found anything yet."

"Let me help." Together they opened all of the cabinets downstairs and came up with nothing. They went through every box and also came up empty handed. 

"Are you sure they kept weapons in here?" Billy asked, closing up the last box. 

"I'm positive. I'm just not sure where. Lets go try upstairs." Going slow to keep their footing they headed back upstairs. Facing the front door once again they could go left or right on a catwalk. Teagan and Ellie went right, and Billy went left. 

Billy quickly made his way to the end of the metal catwalk which opened up into a full-closet sized room. His eyes, having adjusted to the darkness quickly picked out the important things. No weapons, but other necessities. 

He picked out five walkie-talkies turning each one on. The batteries in all of them had held up and the room filled with static hisses. Turning them off he clipped two on to each front pocket and held the other three in his left hand. With his right hand he grabbed two flashlights, clicking one on. Another shelf on the wall held extension cords and extra batteries. He started to leave the room then stopped, setting his collected equipment down on the floor. He turned back to the shelf with the batteries and filled the lower pockets of his cargo pants with them. Feeling satisfied with his discovery and collection he picked up the rest of his gear and walked back down the catwalk. 

Teagan and Ellie hit the weapons room. The maintenance shed had only been equipped with basic weapons. Nothing extraordinary and nothing to help them though what lie ahead. 

"Ya know what, I almost don't want to waste room carrying these things. We should just go to the weapons shed and be able to carry a lot out of there," Ellie said, looking up and down the shelves of weapons. 

"You want this trip to be a waste?"

"It won't be. I found some stuff." Billy came in arms loaded. He handed a walkie-talkie to Ellie and another to Teagan then handed Teagan and Ellie flashlights. He clipped the third walkie-talkie to his belt and fished out some batteries for Ellie and Teagan. "That's what was at the other end of the hall. Figured it would come in handy."

"For sure. So we just head out to the weapons shed?" Teagan asked, clipping her walkie-talkie down. 

"We might as well." Ellie motioned for Billy to leave the room. They followed his flashlight beam back to the front door. Billy cracked it open and rain came pouring in, tilted by the wind. 

"Why does it always have to rain?" Ellie wondered aloud. She started to push out the door then froze. 

"What? What is it?" Teagan asked from inside. 

"Is there a back door out of this place?"

"I don't know."

"I think we had better find one." 

"What? Why?" Teagan shoved past Billy and out the door, coming up next to Ellie. She froze. 

Twenty yards away, head bent to the ground was the Rex. Something had caught it's interest on the ground and it was busy sniffing it out. It gave one last loud sniff then raised it's head to the sky, squinting into the rain. From the tip of it's raised snout down to its feet the Rex stood nearly twenty-three feet tall. When it lowered it's head to normal level it still stood a terrifying eighteen feet tall. The Rex opened its mouth and let out an almost comical sneeze, but in the process reveled the not-at-all-comical twelve inch teeth. The Rex returned to it's sniffing of the treetops. Any remote possibility of escape behind it was cut off by its tail, which was stretched across the dirt path to the raptor pen. 

Teagan started to back up toward the door. The rex stopped his sniffing altogether and slowly turned his head toward the two outside. 

"Don't move," Ellie breathed out. 

The Rex stood as statue still as Ellie and Teagan. He was waiting for the movement that would give his prey away. It had caught Teagan's slight movement, but now had lost her against a background of stillness. It began sniffing at the air again, this time focusing his nose at the area around the shed. He caught very faint whiffs of the prey through the rain, but could not locate it well enough without seeing it. The Rex waited for his prey to move. Teagan and Ellie waited for the Rex to move. It was not a match of strength or wit, but simply a match of patience. 

Grant opened the door at the end of the hall and peered out. They hadn't run into any trouble getting to the emergency bunker but he had an uneasy feeling about getting back out. Seeing nothing he stepped into the lobby with Ryan right behind him. 

"So are we just going to go back to the trailer and wait for the others?" Ryan asked. He held one gun out in front of him, safety off, with the others slung over his shoulder. 

"Yeah, that was the plan."

"What if they're in trouble?"

"We can't start thinking that way. Not yet." 

The game continued. Neither offense nor defense daring to move. Teagan sat studying her opponent. Moving only her eyes, she started at the head and slowly moved her way down it's pebbled back, noticing every inch of sturdy muscle. It's arms were small and more than useless, but it's legs were powerful and impressive. Teagan stopped at the feet, stumped. There was something wrong there. 

"They were right," she breathed out in a hushed whisper. 

"What?" 

"The Rex has mutated, look at it's middle claw." Ellie followed Teagan's instruction and looked down to the ground. The middle claw of the Rex's foot was raised up above the rest. It carried a vicious curve to it that only one dinosaur had ever laid claim to; the raptor. A raptor's middle claw was roughly ten inches long, however this rex's claw was at least twenty inches long, staying in proportion to the Rex's body. 

"No way in hell am I seeing what I am seeing." 

"We should just run back inside, it can't get us if we're in there." Teagan risked a slow glance behind her. The door was only four or five feet away. "I don't want to shoot it and piss it off. Not when we're standing this close to it. " 

"Ok, on three. One…two…," Before three was even out of her mouth they had both turned and hurled themselves to the door. Billy yanked it back for them and slammed it behind them. 

A vibration rumbled through the concrete floor as the Rex lunged at the building. But his prey was safely inside before he reached the door. He bellowed out a thunderous roar that was not stopped by the concrete walls. 

Teagan breathed a sigh of relief that she was inside. "It'll just go away right?"

"No telling." Ellie sat down on the top step to the lower level. "That was close."

"You're not kidding-" Teagan was cut off by a deafening crash. She spun around to the front door which was now bent in at an odd angle. Billy scrambled away from the wall and over to Teagan. The crash was followed by a silence nearly as deafening as the crash itself. All eyes stayed glued on the door. 

Concrete dust showered down from the ceiling and a few pieces of concrete fell from around the door frame, shattering as they hit the floor. More rumbling and vibrations as the Rex backed up for another go. 

It backed up sixty feet or so then lowered its head and started running. As it neared the building it turned its head to the side and continued to run. It rammed the building with six tons of force. This time the front wall completely caved in and the front portion of the roof collapsed. 

Ellie and the kids stood exposed for a second amazed at the force the Rex must have possessed to knock down a concrete building. As the Rex shook his head and cleared its vision, they were snapped out of their trance. As one they barreled down the stairs into the basement. 

"Is there a back door?!" Teagan yelled as she ran.

"God I hope so," Ellie shouted back. At the bottom of the stairs a hallway extended into the darkness. Teagan fumbled for the flashlight at her side. Once she had a good hold on it she clicked it on, illuminating the hallway. The light reflected off a steel door at the end of the hallway, roughly 40 feet down. Teagan leaned forward, increasing her speed. Billy must have been less than a foot behind her, she could hear his frantic breathing. Ellie reached the door a fraction of a second before them and was leaning against it catching her breath. As Teagan ran up she shouted for her to open the door. 

"Wait!" Billy yelled. "We don't know what's on the other side of that." 

"Do we have a choice?" Teagan questioned. "We can go back the other way and get eaten by a Rex, sit here and wait for the building to collapse, or take our chances with door number one." 

"Well when you put it that way."

"He's right though," Ellie said, looking back down the hall. 

"Now is not the time. Just open the door Ellie." Teagan took a step forward and stretched her hand out to the handle. 

Seeing that either way the door would be opened Ellie went ahead and twisted the handle. She opened it just enough for Teagan to peer out. "I don't see anything. It's raining so hard though I can't see anything past the first line of trees."

"We don't want to go any further into the woods than that anyway," Billy said, peeking out the door past Teagan's shoulder. "We should go just beyond it and make our way around the shed."

"We still have to get to the weapon's shed," Teagan said. "Which way is it from here?"

"We would have to go into the woods and walk to the right, half way around the building. There would be a trail there. About 20 yards down that trail is the weapon's shed." Ellie pulled the door open another foot. "The Rex won't be able to see us. But there's no telling what's watching from the woods."

"Sitting around here waiting isn't going to answer that question. Lets just get out to the tree line and go from there." Teagan shoved the door open the rest of the way. "We'll waste less time standing still if we all move together." She stood in the open door way and moved aside, allowing Billy and Ellie to step up next to her. "On the count of three."

"Oh hell, lets just go." Billy shoved Teagan forward and followed closely behind. Ellie was a fraction of an inch behind him. Crouched low to the ground, shielding their eyes from the driving rain they ran into the woods beyond the first tree line without a problem. Now out in the open and unprotected they used hand signals to avoid speaking. 

Each of them gave the woods a thorough scan. Satisfied with the fact that if there was danger they'd never see it coming anyway, Teagan and Billy looked to Ellie for direction. She waved her hand and started walking, keeping the tree line and maintenance shed to her right. Teagan fell in behind her and Billy took up the rear, watching to make sure none of his steps fell onto a branch, breaking it and targeting their whereabouts. 

Ellie moved quickly but quietly through the trees and in no time stood on the edge of the path to the weapon's shed. She stopped and waited until Billy and Teagan were standing beside her. Then she motioned back towards the ruined building they had escaped from. 

The Rex was no longer charging the building, but once again had lifted its head to the sky and now stood still, sniffing. Even through the rain it could smell that prey was near. All it had to do was sniff it out, follow it's nose. With a giant boom that sent the ground rumbling the Rex took a step to the right. Catching another waft of prey it took two more steps around the right side of the building, quickly closing distance to the weapon's shed path. 

Billy nudged Teagan's arm and when he had her attention motioned to the dart gun slung across her shoulder. She lifted the strap over her head and nestled the stock under her arm. Before lining up her sight she glanced at Ellie who simply nodded and then pointed down the path. Teagan nodded once, signaling that she understood and then turned back toward the Rex. She remembered Ellie saying one dart would take out an elephant, so at the very least Teagan would want to use two. 

She lined the crosshairs up with the Rex's neck. Steadying herself as best as she could she tightened her finger around the trigger. She followed the Rex as he took one more step forward and then pulled the trigger, sending a dart flying. Without a moment of hesitation she pulled the trigger again. 

The Rex's reaction was immediate. A bellow of pain, quickly followed by a second let Teagan know that both her shots had found their target. The Rex turned in a tight circle looking for the source of pain. Ellie had already taken off down the path and Billy was no longer standing next to her, but Teagan couldn't help but stand and watch. This magnificent animal looked so ridiculous spinning around chuffing and snorting. 

"Teagan," Billy whispered. She turned around to face him and he emphatically waved her forward. With one more look to the Rex she took off towards Billy. The two kids were half way down the trail when a tremendous boom shook the earth and they knew the Rex was down. Ellie stood at the entrance to the weapon's shed holding the door open for them. As Teagan passed her and entered the compound Ellie said "good job." 

"How long will that keep him out for?" Teagan asked.

"Well it'll keep an elephant down for about an hour. So I would say the Rex'll be down for at least half an hour, probably a little more."

"Well how about we not test that theory. Lets just grab some stuff and get out of here." Billy grabbed the flashlight from his belt and clicked it on. The light reveled shelves upon shelves of what would appear to any novice hunter an array of extremely high-tech weapons. 

"Sweet," Billy muttered under his breath. 

Grant and Ryan slowly moved across the lobby of the visitor's center, constantly scanning the room with their weapons. Out the front doors they could see that the rain continued to mercilessly hammer down on the earth. Thunder sounded in the distance. But there was another sound mixed in with the thunder, another rumbling. Ryan stopped to listen but at Grant's urging continued to move forward. He heard nothing else. 

When the reached the front doors they shoved them open and advanced onto the front steps. Still shielded from the rain they took a second to look around for any signs of raptors. As they were about to get going the rumbling sound echoed through the air again. Ryan looked to Grant with a questioning expression.

"It's a Rex. And its close. We definitely need to get inside the trailer." Grant began to make his way down the steps, keeping his eyes glued to the forest in front of him. Once at the bottom of the steps he ran the rest of the way to the trailer. He and Ryan jumped in and locked the door behind them. With a second thought Grant returned to the door an unlocked it. 

"Why did you do that?" 

"In case the others need to get in here fast. They might not have time to wait around for us to unlock the door." 

"Oh."

"Listen, don't turn any lights on. Don't run anything electric. And don't do anything that will give off any scent. With the Rex somewhere close we don't want to draw it closer."

"Why did we base right here. More than likely it is either Rex territory or Raptor territory." 

"Because there probably isn't anywhere that's any better. And like I said, we needed to get into the visitor's center anyway." 

Ryan went to the fridge and got a bottled water out. Then he sat at the kitchen table and looked out the window. What he saw made him stop, water bottle half way to mouth. "Dr. Grant, you may want to see this." 

Billy walked up to the nearest shelf and began inspecting the weapons laid out on it. "What kind of stuff do we need to take?"

"The heavy duty stuff. No more dart guns, we need stuff to kill," Ellie said, bringing out her own flashlight. She walked across the room to another door at the far end of the shed. When she tried to open it she found that it was locked. "We need to get in here."

Billy dropped what he was looking at and walked over to Ellie, Teagan right behind him. 

"Why, what do you think is in there?" Teagan asked. 

"Explosives."

"Oh, well of course." 

"We'll need them to take out the dock. And most of the other stuff." 

Billy began circling the room looking for something to break the lock with. Coming up empty handed he turned to tell as much to Ellie and Teagan, but Teagan was hunched over the lock, busily picking it. Before Billy could make his way back to the door Teagan had it open. "How did you know how to do that?"

"Just a little skill I picked up." 

Ellie shined her flashlight into the room. "Bingo." Two walls were lined with boxes labeled 'danger! explosives'. The third wall held burlap sacks and various detonating wires. Ellie grabbed a burlap sack and headed to the nearest box. Using a crowbar conveniently left behind she pried the box open and let the lid fall to the floor. 

The contents were packed in sawdust and she hastily brushed it aside. Her box was full of sticks of dynamite. Without much concern for safety she grabbed the sticks with one hand and shoved them in the bag in her other hand. When the box was empty, her bag was full. She set it on the ground and tied it shut. Then moved across the room to get another bag. Down on a shelf below the detonating wire she noticed a stack of belts. She bent down and picked one up. "Teagan, Billy," she said, tossing each a belt. "Find the box that has the babies we clip onto these." 

Teagan and Billy each tied a strap down across their shoulder and in turn opened a box of their own. Billy struck home with a box of carefully packed grenades. Using extreme care he clipped them into place on his belt, then moved aside so Teagan could do the same. Ellie came over to fill a strap of her own. "These are going to be extremely handy. We should get a strap for Ryan and Grant as well."

Taking her cue Teagan got two more belts and filled them, carefully placing each strap in a bag with the rest of the grenades from the box. "What else do we need?"

"Lets get one more bag of dynamite and some of that wire." Teagan tossed a bag to Ellie and filled another bag with wire. When the bags were tied up and stacked by the door they began inspecting the weapons. 

"Is this what I think it is?" Billy asked, hoisting a large bulky weapon off a top shelf. 

"Flamethrower," Ellie replied, looking at it briefly than returning to her search. 

"Now that's what I'm talking about."

"Half these weapons probably aren't even legal. I mean, is that a bazooka?" Teagan asked.

"I'm sure they aren't legal. Hammond doesn't have much sense for the legality of things. He just does what he wants. Although this shed was probably pushed by others working on the project. Hammond never would have seen the necessity of such a drastic back up measure." Ellie grabbed two heavy duty automatics, recognizing them as the type Muldoon had used. She handed two more to Teagan. "These will be good for anything raptor size or smaller." 

Remembering that they still had to carry the bags of explosives Ellie turned back to the door. "I think we're good to go." 

Billy grabbed two of the bags leaving Ellie and Teagan one bag each. Armed and ready they left the weapons shed behind the moved back onto the path. 

Grant walked over to the window and lowered himself so he could look out. He didn't see anything. "What?"

"Just watch." Ryan put the water bottle back on the table and leaned forward on his elbows. "There, on the trail at the first bend. Raptors."

Grant would have missed it if he blinked. A raptor's head bobbed onto the trail and then disappeared once again into the foliage. "The others are going to have to come back down that trail." 

"We gotta do something." Ryan stood up and lifted the gun Grant had given him earlier. Checking to make sure he had extra ammo in his pockets and walked to the trailer door. 

"No wait. I have a better idea." Grant lifted his gun off the counter and walked to the rear of the trailer. He opened one of the tiny closet doors in the back and disappeared inside. "Come on." 

Ryan joined Grant at the back and saw that inside the closet was a ladder leading up. Grant had climbed to the top and sounded as if he was disengaging locks. Moments later rain began to pour in through the top of the closet and Grant continued to climb up. Ryan was right behind him and ten rungs later stood on top of the trailer. He left the hatch open in case they needed to get back inside quickly. 

"Once we get them over here we need to shoot. I'm placing no bets on how high they can jump." Grant walked to the edge of the trailer and looked out to where the raptors had last been. Then he began to make noises that sounded like a sick and dying animal; easy prey. The reaction was immediate. Four heads bobbed into view, focused on the trailer. 

Years of ruling the island had stolen their caution and the raptors emerged onto the trail, running toward their expected meal. As soon as they were in view Grant and Ryan lifted their guns and set their sights. In unplanned unison they each fired a shot, but only one raptor went down. 

Undaunted the other three raptors continued forward. Ryan set up again and pulled the trigger before he had truly aimed. Miraculously he still managed to find his mark and another raptor went down. The first raptor to go down had managed to struggle to its feet and was once again moving to the trailer. Grant shot it again, taking it down for good. 

In the time it had taken Ryan and Grant to get off four shots the two unharmed raptors had made it to the edge of the trailer. Realizing that their prey was on top of it they began trying to jump. They managed to get their heads up over the top, but Grant didn't think they would ever manage to jump high enough to land. Keeping his gun raised he tried to time when he thought one of the faces would appear again, there was no way he was going to lean over the side to shoot down. 

With a snarl and a hiss a raptor from the neck up appeared three feet in front of Ryan. Startled, Ryan let off a shot but missed. The raptor disappeared again. Aiming where the raptor had just been Ryan waited. Five seconds later the raptor reappeared. 

It seemed to be frozen in the air and time seemed to slow as Ryan's finger tightened around the trigger. But before he could squeeze off a shot a searing pain shot through his shin. He jolted back, dropping the gun and the raptor dropped out of sight. 

"What - oh God - what did it do?!" Ryan looked down at his leg. His whole shin was covered in a dark tar-like substance. He didn't want to touch it, but instinct told him to wipe the black goop off. He bent down. 

"No, don't touch it. Just get back inside." Grant waited to get off one more shot but the raptor's didn't make another jump. Pausing to listen he didn't hear anything and crept to the side of the roof. He peered down but the raptors were gone. Lost to them in the woods. 

Grant picked Ryan's weapon up off the roof and made his way down the ladder back into the trailer. 

The Rex was still down. But not wanting to let their guard down for a second, Teagan, Billy and Ellie walked with their weapons ready. The Rex's breathing was shallow and Teagan wondered how much more sedative it would take for the Rex to slip into a coma and die. 

"We have to kill it," Ellie said, rounding the Rex to face its belly.

"What?" Teagan asked, jarred from her thoughts. 

"Its right here. We have to kill it. You could just shoot it a couple more times with the dart gun and it'll overdose on sedative and die. It'll never even wake up." 

"How many more darts do you think that would take?" Teagan hoped Ellie would have an answer, cause she didn't know well enough to be sure. 

"I would say three would do it, we can do four to be sure." 

"Ok." Teagan walked over to Ellie who stood by the Rex's chest. She pinpointed about where the heart would be and aimed. Trying to ignore the fact that she was killing the most magnificent creature she had ever seen, Teagan fired two consecutive shots. There was no reaction at all, from the humans or the Rex. Teagan lowered her gun and walked away, Ellie trailing behind. 

Billy stood at the end of the path that headed back to the trailer. "How many other Rex's are on the island?" 

"None. Hammond only kept one here," Ellie said as she caught up to him. "So now there aren't any. Which is good. That would have been the first thing Hammond would have told the next team to load up and bring back to the mainland." 

"Even after what already happened over there?"

"Like Alan said, Hammond thinks he learned from his mistakes. He would take care to have the boat more secure this time. Still a huge mistake though, no matter what precautions he took." 

As they walked the trailer came into view. The three picked up their pace, eager to be back inside, safe. Behind them they heard a low snorting sound. Teagan whirled around, raising her gun as she did so. Two raptors were sniffing around the Rex's body. A third stood off to the side, clearly favoring one foot. 

Teagan nudged Billy and Ellie off to the side of the path and pointed behind them. They edged their pace up another notch and prayed the raptors would stay occupied with the Rex. Of course, there were probably others stationed in the woods. The thought kept Billy from stopping and shooting the three raptors while they were distracted. 

Luckily enough no trouble came and they made it to the trailer door. They walked in and set all their newly acquired gear on the floor in the kitchen. A low moan traveled up from the rear of the trailer. The group shot each other worried looks and headed back. 

Ryan was sprawled across the back bench, eyes squeezed shut while tears poured down his cheeks. In his right hand he clutched a glass of water and in his left a paper towel. 

Grant was bent over Ryan's right leg, gently wiping away at something. The floor around Grant was covered in paper towels smeared with black tar. 

"What happened?" Teagan asked, kneeling down by Ryan's side. She took the glass from his hand and put it on the floor, clutching his hand with her own. 

"Raptor attack," Grant answered, not looking up from his work.

"What is the black stuff?"

"Dilophosaurus venom." 

"I thought you said it was a - Oh. Those raptors out there are mutated."

Grant leaned back to get another paper towel. "Go get me some water. And bandages. Just get the rest of the first aid stuff." Billy went to get the supplies. Teagan leaned forward to see what damage had been done. 

Grant had gotten all but a few spots of the venom off of Ryan's leg. His shin now lay exposed and it was badly blistered. Everywhere the venom had touched was now red, and bleeding. "How did that happen?" As Teagan voiced her wonder Billy returned with the water and other supplies. 

Grant used the water to get the remaining venom off and cleanse the rest of the area. Ryan continued to squeeze Teagan's hand with bone breaking force. Once all traces of venom were gone Grant took a gel out of the first aid kit that was used on all sorts of burns. He lightly smeared it over Ryan's leg, forcing a hiss of pain from Ryan. Without comment Grant wrapped the shin with a bandage and fastened the end. 

"Why did it burn like that?" Teagan asked, handing the water back to Ryan.

"It was an acid burn." Grant put the first aid supplies away and threw the paper towels into a garbage can next to him. 

"I didn't think dilophosaurus venom was acidic."

Grant turned to face Teagan. "It wasn't." He got up and dumped the bowl of water into the kitchen sink. "But it is now."

"Is he going to be ok?" 

"Yeah. I would say the venom is still low in acidic content. It's a burn alright, but nothing too serious. He should still be able to put weight on his leg. Just let him rest." 

Teagan patted her cousin's shoulder and walked back out into the kitchen. Billy was looking out the windows trying to see the raptors but they had already disappeared out of view. The Rex still lay by the maintenance shed. "Did you guys get the weapons," he said, sitting down at the table. 

"Yeah and extra ammo. It's all in the back. What did you manage to get?" Grant asked, motioning to the bags. 

"Explosives, flame thrower, automatics, grenades. We're gonna need it. We took down the Rex. Shot it full of sedative, should be plenty to kill it." Ellie stacked the guns they had retrieved by the front door and shoved the bags so they were out of the way. 

"Good. That means we have no Rex to worry about." 

"Yeah, just everything else on this island."

"So we head out tomorrow morning. What's the plan." Teagan looked at the clock, it was nearly eight o'clock. Her stomach rumbled as if it too had just realized the time. As she listened to Grant she searched the kitchen for some sort of supper.

"We're going to take the jeeps and follow the automated track. It'll swing us by every paddock on the park. We shoot what we see, staying inside the jeep. That'll be our job tomorrow. Assuming that goes well, the next day we'll go in and start taking out nests." 

"Sounds like fun. Who's hungry?" Teagan pulled out the fixings for sandwiches and spread them out on the counter. No one said anything else as they dug in. 

Twenty minutes later everyone was full and as content as one could be while on an island of killer dinosaurs. Since Teagan had set up, Billy put all the food away and tossed the paper plates and plastic utensils into the trash. 

Ryan had fallen asleep immediately after finishing the sandwich Teagan had brought him. Teagan and Billy followed suit, crawling into the bunks that lined the narrow hallway. Ellie and Grant stayed up a little longer, talking about the plan for the next day. It wasn't long until exhaustion captured them as well. 

Billy woke up covered in sweat. He couldn't remember anything he had been dreaming, but judging by the disarray of the covers he had been trying to run from something. He could imagine the rabid, mutated, Tyrannosaur that must have occupied his dreams. Unable to swallow he jumped out of his bunk and headed for the kitchen. In the kitchen he opened the fridge, got out a jug of water, and poured himself half a glass. Then he sat at the kitchen table to slow his heart rate. 

His mind wandered to the task at hand. He wasn't too worried about the coming day's mission. It seemed simple enough, they never even had to get out of the jeeps. It would be like when he used to play duck hunt on Nintendo, all he had to do was aim and shoot. He put his glass of unfinished water on the table. It would be when they had to get out of the jeeps and venture into the paddocks to destroy any nests that he might lose himself with fright. With every ounce of his being he kept a shiver from running up his spine. 

When he stood up to bring the cup to the counter the trailer shook. He had his hand halfway to the glass, and the water inside vibrated out three consecutive rings. Now, sure that he must still be dreaming, Billy grabbed the glass and chugged the rest of the water. Half way to the sink, an earth vibrating boom sounded again. Billy ran back to the window and peered out. Between the absolute darkness and the rain he couldn't see anything. 

Forgetting about the glass Billy ran to wake Grant. 

"What?" Grant muttered, sleepily rolling over to face Billy. 

"There's something out there. Another Rex or something." Grant was awake immediately. He jumped out of the bunk and shouted for Ellie. Instead of waiting for her to get up he ran to the front of the trailer. His shouts also woke up Teagan. Minutes later the four of them huddled around the kitchen window, straining to see some sign of motion. In the time it had taken them to converge four more booms had rattled the trailer. Each one slightly stronger than the last. 

"I thought you said there was only one Rex," Teagan said, keeping her eyes glued to the window.  
"There was." 

"Than what is that, we killed the other one."

"Maybe we didn't."

"Four shots of sedative, designed to put down an elephant. It should have died." 

"Should have, doesn't mean it did." 

"Maybe its something else," Billy mentioned. 

"How are we ever going to know what it is if we can't see anything?" Teagan asked, backing away from the window.

"We'll just have to wait until morning, and then go have a look around. A quick look around." Grant stood up and started back toward his bunk. "Lets face it, we're never going to see what it is now." 

"What if it decides to come attack the trailer?"

"There's nothing we can do to keep it from doing that, other than sitting tight, not drawing attention to ourselves. Most likely it won't even notice the trailer."

Teagan and Billy sat at the kitchen table, more than a little worried about what was making the noise. "He's right guys, we won't be able to determine anything until the morning. In the meantime we need the sleep." Ellie followed Grant back to the bunks. 

After one last desperate look outside Teagan stood up and stretched. "Those bunks are just way to small to qualify as comfortable." Agreeing Billy stood up and headed back down the hall. "Better sleeping place than the inside of something's gut." 

"Fair enough." Teagan and Billy settled back into their bunks and tried to sleep. At least two more shudders ran through the trailer before they had entered the darkness of sleep. 

The next morning came with no further interruptions. Ryan was up before anyone else, not having been interrupted by the rumbles throughout the night. When Teagan woke up he was sitting at the table eating a banana. She quickly filled him in on the late night happenings. When she was done she got herself an orange and sat back down at the table. When the orange was gone she grabbed her duffle bag out from under her bunk and headed to the back to change. She passed Billy on the way, already changed and ready to go. 

A couple minutes later she emerged back into the kitchen refreshed and eager to go outside to solve the mystery of the boom. Grant and Ellie were leaning against the counter eating a breakfast of fruit. In turn they each went to the back to clean up. Ellie took a minute to re-bandage Ryan's leg. "How does it feel to stand on it.?"

"Not too bad. It stings a little. But I can manage." 

"Well we'll be staying in the jeeps today. So you should be alright. You should probably stay in here while we check around outside." 

"Are you sure."

"Yeah, there's no telling what we're going to come up against and you need a little more time before you fully put your leg to the test." 

"Alright." Ryan threw his banana peel away and went to the back to change. While he was gone Billy, Teagan, Ellie and Grant loaded up on weapons. When each was suited up they yelled to Ryan that they would be right back and went outside. The rain had finally let up to a light drizzle. 

"All we're going to do is look for evidence of whatever was out here last night. No heroics. We get back inside as soon as we can." Grant took the lead and headed toward the raptor pen. Billy kept an eye on the left side of the path, Teagan an eye on the right. Ellie kept track of what was going on behind them. 

When Grant reached the raptor pen he stopped. "Well there's our tracks." Several large Tyrannosaur tracks led of into the woods. 

"The stupid thing didn't die. For crying out loud, we're standing right where it fell." Teagan walked over to a track and stood inside. Mud oozed up around her boots. 

"Ok well, lets check dart gun off the destruction weapons list. Its good in a tight spot, we'll keep it around. But it won't kill a Rex and we won't chance it with anything else." Grant turned to walk back to the trailer. Teagan hopped out of the imprint and followed. When they got back to the trailer Ryan was dressed and watching out the window. 

"I see the rain let up," Ryan said as the others came in the trailer and unloaded their gear. 

"Yeah. That ought to make our job easier. Speaking of which, we should probably get going on that." Grant grabbed a duffle bag out of a closet and went to the fridge. He pulled several bottles of water out and tossed them into the bag. Then he turned to the rest of the group. "Teagan why don't you go pack up first aid gear. A little of everything. Billy grab extra ammo from the weapon's closet. Ellie, start thinking about how to distribute weapons." Grant moved on from the fridge to a cabinet and pulled down some bags of food. 

Teagan and Billy moved off to the back. Each had a bag in hand. Teagan grabbed a roll of bandage, several tubes of various ointments and creams, and anything else in the closet that looked like it could, in any given situation, be needed. Billy loaded the bag full of ammunition then grabbed the guns out of the closet that the ammo went to. Back up front Ellie had the weapons that they had already acquired spread out on the floor. 

"There were three more automatics in the back closets," Billy said, setting them down. 

"Good, that means everyone will have one." Ellie asked for the bag of ammo. Then laid an extra box next to each weapon. "Get another bag and split the rest of the ammo between the two. We'll keep a bag in each jeep. If there was any more ammo in the closet go get it and put it in the bags." Billy did as he was told. 

Teagan offered to help pack the jeeps. Grant had filled another bag with food and water and handed them both to Teagan. With an automatic slung over her should she left the trailer. The jeeps were parked only feet from the trailer door but Teagan remained on high alert. She threw the bags of food into the trunk in the back of the jeep. Then she jogged back to the trailer. Ellie handed her the two bags of ammo and the two bags she had split the first aid gear into from the door and Teagan stored one in the front seat of each jeep. 

Once she was back inside Grant began to hand out more directions. He, Ryan and Billy would be in the lead jeep with Ellie and Teagan following behind. Everyone was to drive with the windows up until they were prepared to shoot, then they would roll down the window and aim; but no one was to ever open a door. The automatics would be used and each person was to have at least one box of ammo on their person. A heavier weapon would be stored in the trunk of each jeep for emergency use only. The explosives were staying in the trailer for a later use. They would make one sweep of the park that morning, and another later in the afternoon. Depending on their success, they would move on to the second part of the plan the next day. 

With a sudden thought Billy grabbed one of the bags they had brought back from the maintenance shed. He pulled it open and took out two walkie-talkies. Grant told Billy to hold on to one and to give the other one to Teagan. 

When everyone clearly understood what was about to happen they headed toward the door, picking up a weapon and the box of ammo as they headed out. Grant and Ellie picked up the heavy artillery in addition. They piled into their respective jeeps with Ellie and Grant driving. The windshield wipers were flicked on, but headlights remained off. Grant pulled over the metal track and onto the trail that lead into the park. 

Excited about where they were headed but nervous at the same time all the kids looked expectantly out their windows. When they reached the Jurassic Park gate Grant stopped. There was nothing blocking them for the gates hung open like a mouth ready to devour. Grant simply needed a moment to brace himself for what lie ahead. Now they were actually headed into the heart of Jurassic Park. 

Once Grant had regained composure he rested his foot on the accelerator and continued forward. In his mind he tried to remember the layout of the park. Trying to remember in what order the road passed the dinosaurs' paddocks. 

"So this is Jurassic Park. This is Hammond's multimillion dollar project." Billy looked through each window and the sunroof in turn, trying to take in every inch of his surroundings. 

"This is it. Grand idea, grand flop." Grant was still trying to organize the order of the paddocks. "The first few paddocks have mild tempered dinosaurs in them, not any that will be overly dangerous to us."

"You know what I'm not going to be able to do," Billy stopped, shaking his head. "How am I going to be able to look at a Triceratops for the first time and then shoot it dead. When it didn't do anything to me, and when if given the chance to try it would probably just stand there like a cow." 

"No one said this would be easy. But it has to be done."

"Couldn't we just kill the carnivorous dinosaurs, and leave the harmless ones? So what if they made it back to the mainland. They put lions and bears in zoos and humans have been killed by those," Ryan suggested from the back seat. For the time being he had his leg extended across the seat, with his weapon resting across his lap. 

"In all honesty I can't give you a good reason why we can't do that. I suppose from a scientist's point of view I would have to say look at the unstable situation we would create. There would be animals here with no enemies, nothing preying on it. They would completely overpopulate the island, most likely permanently damaging the island. It would create another huge mess on Isla Nublar." 

"I see your point. But Billy's right, it's going to be hard." 

Back in the other car, Teagan and Ellie weren't discussing the moral and ethical issues at hand, they were discussing why they had to be in the follow-up car. 

"Do they not think we could handle being in the lead? I mean, you know just as much about this island as Grant does, and lets face it, I probably know as much as Billy and Ryan combined." 

"They're men. Enough said." Ellie stayed a constant 20 feet or so behind Grant's car. Not wanting to crowd it, but not wanting to much space to fall in-between. 

"I think in the 14 hours or so that we've been here we've proven ourselves to be more than adequate and capable." 

"That's for sure. Besides, the attack is just as likely to come from the rear as it is from the front. You know what it is, they want the action first." 

"Losers." 

"Jerks."

"So you think we might get some action from behind?"

"Most definitely." 

"Do you know what dino we'll probably see first?"

"The first thing we saw on the tour was the dilophosaurus. So probably those. And they're going to be the tricky ones, because as soon as they sense a threat having the windows rolled down won't be an option. We have to aim and shoot as fast as humanly possible." 

"Think Grant remembers that?"

"Hard to say. Why don't you radio them and send a friendly reminder." 

"Yo, Billy." 

"Yeah?" Teagan could see Billy turn around to face them. 

"Just wanted to make sure you guys knew that the dilophosaurs would be first on this hunting trip. Aiming and shooting at warp speed is a must." 

"Got that. We don't want any more acidic burns. We'll keep you posted on what we see." 

"Ditto." 

Teagan clipped the walkie-talkie back to her belt and turned in her seat to look behind them. Nothing back there. She faced the front and tested her window, seeing how fast it would roll up and down. It turned out to be about as fast as car windows ever got. With the window once again rolled up to the top she stopped fidgeting. 

After a few more empty minutes of driving a red and yellow sign came into view. It wasn't on the road, but behind a once-electrified fence, the sign announced in not so many words that the paddock they looked into held the dilophosaurus'. 

The prerecorded informational track that had run in the original trucks on the tour ran through Grant's head. It ended with _"making the dilophosaurus a beautiful but deadly addition to Jurassic Park." _ Yeah, they sure had that right. 

Grant slowed to a crawl and placed his right hand on the window button. He thought he saw something about 20 feet out. He overshot it by 10 feet and then put the car into park. Ellie pulled up right behind him and did the same. Billy and Teagan covered the right side of the road from their windows, while Ellie, Grant, and Ryan covered the left side. 

Grant aimed at the spot where he had thought he'd seen something. Nothing moved, including Grant. He was about to ask Billy to get something for him when he heard a shot fired. Then gun wasn't loud, but it sparked the interest of the dinosaur he had seen. It raised its head above the grass and looked around. Grant, already set, rechecked his aim and pulled the trigger. The dino went down with a thud, returning the forest to its original stillness. 

After scanning the surrounding forest and seeing nothing Grant returned to his original request of Billy. "In the glove compartment there should be a small black box, with a lot of buttons on the front. Will you hand it to me." 

Billy fished around in the glove compartment for a minute and then placed the box in Grant's hand. "What does that do?"

Grant didn't answer but set to work examining the buttons on the box. When he found the one he wanted he pushed it in, then flipped the box over. After pushing another button and twisting a knob a loud hooting escaped the box. "That's what it does." 

Knowing the hoots would elicit an immediate response from any dinosaurs within hearing distance, Billy turned back towards his window. He took turns scanning with his eyes and then through the site mounted on the top of his weapon. He was rewarded with two dilophosuars side by side. Taking aim and thinking of nothing else he took them both down. Ryan, only seconds quicker than Grant took down another on the left side of the road. 

More hooting arose from the surrounding grass, but nothing came into view. The hooting stopped abruptly and was replaced by a high pitched hissing. "Roll your windows up now!" Grant tugged his weapon back in through the window and mashed on the up button. Billy and Ryan did the same. 

"Teagan, back in the car, roll the window up." Teagan set her weapon on the floor and looked at the armrest on the door, reaching for the window button. When her finger was on it she looked back up, out the window. No more than fifteen feet away stood a lone dilophosaur. His neck was surrounded by a brightly decorated frill that screamed poison. Now frantic Teagan pushed on the button as hard as she could, but of course the window could go no faster. 

The dilophosaur leaned back and then launched forward with one step. Black tar went flying and covered the fifteen feet with ease. Teagan jerked back and acting on instinct covered her head with her arms. The expected pain didn't come and she reached for the window button again. Looking over she saw that the back right window was covered with the sticky tar. The dilophosaur arched its neck back again, preparing for another attack. Ellie slammed the car into drive and gently rammed into Grant's car. 

Grant previously unaware of the mounting problem behind him started when the jeep rocked forward. Immediately knowing something was wrong he removed the car from park and drove forward yelling for Ryan to tell him what was happening. 

"There's a dilophosaur spitting at their jeep. Go, keep going forward." Grant did what he was told and didn't stop until he was beyond the edge of the dilophosaur fence. 

"Billy give me the radio." Without question Billy handed it over. 

Grant's voice crackled at Teagan's belt. She unclipped the radio and pushed the send button down asking for him to repeat. 

"Why didn't you tell me you needed to move? I had no idea what was going on." 

"Well I didn't exactly have time to say 'wait, let me get my radio and ask Dr. Grant if he would kindly pull forward'." 

"What happened?"

"I was going to roll my window up and a spitter came up. Hit the back window once and missed the second time cause we moved our butts outta there."

"Are you ok?"

"Frazzled and wishing the windows operated at an increased speed, but yeah ok." 

"How many did you guys hit?"

"Two. You?"

" Five."

"I'm going to say good enough for me cause there sure isn't going to be a second chance right now." 

"Agreed. Ready to move on?" 

"Ready and out." 

Teagan set the radio next to her on the seat and let out a rush of air. "That was a little close huh?"

"Yeah, next time scream or something to alert me of any problems. You didn't make a sound. I was watching Grant's car and didn't realize there was a problem until I heard the tar hit the window."

"Sorry. Next time there is impending doom before me I'll yodel." 

"It would be appreciated." 

The parade of destruction continued on. The next pen held both hypsilophodonts and othnielias. Both were rather small dinosaurs with no capabilities of destruction. The crew simply sat in the jeep and picked them off as they came to the fence. 

To Teagan it was brutal and unfair. It seemed humanly typical to be sitting in a protected vehicle with weapons galore taking down small defenseless animals as they crept forward out of nothing more treacherous than curiosity. But she closed her moral eyes and continued to shoot. 

The small animals were so unintelligent and primitive that they watched their fellow dinosaurs fall dead, and still they continued walking up to get a look at the cars. Those that didn't come to the fence remained perched up in the trees, still easy targets. After ten minutes in front of the pen all activity stopped. Nothing moved beyond the road, no sounds floated in through the open windows. 

Teagan picked up her walkie-talkie. "Well I would say we got all of them. The stupid things just kept coming forward."

Billy answered. "Yeah. Grant figures they work in a pretty tight pack. They all would have been near the road." 

"Lets get out of here." 

Grant put his weapon down on the seat, safety on, and shifted into drive. He knew the next pen would hold a pair of triceratops. At least at last count there had been two. There could be more now. The triceratops had been his favorite animal as a kid, and when he had come here to survey the park he had been enthralled by the triceratops, sick as it had been. He didn't know how he was going to be able to shoot it when it was standing there defenseless and unsuspecting. 

As they rolled into view of the triceratops paddock lightning cracked across the sky. 

"Here we go again," Ryan mumbled from the back. 

"Does it ever not rain here?" Billy asked.

"It would seem not." Grant looked around the field but saw nothing. Maybe he wouldn't have to face the triceratops dilemma quite yet. "Do you see it?"

"What are we looking for?"

"The triceratops." 

"Nothing on this side. Well I guess our luck has run out. We'll have to wait for our next trip around to get this one." 

"Luck running out?"

"Well you know. Up until now all the dinos have been right there. Ready and waiting. Not this time though." 

"I'm not complaining." Grant had Billy radio to Ellie and Teagan that there was nothing in sight and that they would be moving on. 

"Give it another look Teagan."

"Why? Grant said there was nothing." 

Ellie glanced over at her quickly, then turned back to the field to look. 

"You don't think he's lying do you?"

"No. But I think this mission is getting harder by the second." The conversation stopped there. Teagan looked out into the field as she was told, but what she saw only confirmed Grant's message. There was nothing out there. 

The rain slowly began to pick up power. By the time they reached the next pen it was an all out storm once again. 

"What was in this pen?" Teagan asked.

"The Rex was in it. But I don't really think he's in there."

"Me neither. I don't think we're gonna find the Rex on any of these trips. I don't think we're going to find the Rex at all."

"You don't?"

"No. I think that the Rex will find us." 

Up in the lead car Grant tried but could not suppress a shiver. 

"Fences that high, had to be the Rex." Billy had to look out of the sun roof in order to see the top of the fence. "But he's not there now." 

"Probably not. Lets just keep going. There's six or seven pens left. Then we'll rest before our next trip through."

"What's next?"

"Stegs. Easy stuff." 

"Ya know the easy stuff is the worst stuff. When its that easy, there's no way to mask the fact that its just murder and destruction." 

"What do you call it when its hard stuff?" 

"Self defense maybe. I'm not sure. You know those stupid human lines of distinction. We don't always draw the lines in the right places. So I'm just drawing my line between the hard stuff and easy stuff. Make sense?"

"We can't draw lines on this island. When you draw lines you subconsciously make a choice that some things are ok and some are not. And then of course you commit yourself to stay away from the things that are not ok. No matter what you think is ok or not ok here, you have to just do it. Shooting a dumb, half blind, defenseless herbivore may be on the not ok side of your line…but you had better do it anyway."

"I know that. Do you know that?"

"Excuse me?"

"With all due respect, I'm asking if you know that."

"I'm prepared to do what I have to do." 

"Good. Then so am I. I just wanted to make sure. Because if you can't do it, then I know I sure as hell can't."

"Ha, neither could I," Ryan added.

"Glad we're all on the same page here."

Billy shook his had a chuckled. "I sure wish I knew what book we were in." 

After a few more minutes of senseless conversation the jeeps rolled into view of the Stegosaurus paddock. This paddock was much like the tric paddock, a large rolling field. The road only stayed along the field for a hundred yards or so, then took a sharp turn to the right. Grant stopped the jeep in the middle of the stretch of road by the field.

"I think the stegs are off partying with the trics," Billy said. Ryan offered an appreciative laugh from the back. 

"Well I guess that makes us the party crashers," Grant commented, scanning across the field for a second time.

"Party crashers equipped with explosives and automatics; we sure would make the neighborhood cops welcome." Billy unclipped the walkie-talkie. "Should we let our accomplices know there's nothing to be shot here?"

"Sure. I think the road passes by the other end of this field, on the loop back to the visitor's center." 

Billy made the radio call and Grant pushed forward again. He rounded the corner slowly, eyes off the road and searching the woods for the stegs, hoping they'd be there so that he wouldn't have to delay the inevitable any longer. 

The woods proved to be as empty as the field had been. Grant turned his attention back to the road and jerked the wheel in response to a curve that had interrupted the road. If he hadn't looked up at that precise moment the jeep would have had a close and personal encounter with a tree. "Were either of you going to warn me that I might need to turn the car?"

"Actually, no. We were going to see how long you would ignore the fact that you're in control of a moving vehicle," Ryan said. 

"We would have informed you before you'd actually crashed."

"Don't you think maybe you cut it a bit close?"

"Nah. You were all skill with the stunt curve-avoidance. We had faith." 

"Are you having some road issues Dr. Grant?" Teagan's voice came through the radio with a burst of static.

"He's fine. Just enjoying the scenery a bit too much." 

Grant took his eyes off the road once more to glare at Billy. 

"Whoa, you should see the mastered look of death. I'm impr-" 

Grant slammed on the breaks and sent Billy forward. He partially slid off the seat and bounced his head off of the door frame. When he righted himself onto the seat he grabbed his head and brought his fingers down, red with a small smear of blood. "Damn!" The walkie-talkie had flown from his hands and cracked against the dashboard. It now lay on the floor, a crack spider webbed across the front. 

Once satisfied that his head wasn't bleeding profusely, Billy looked through the windshield to find the cause of the stop-on-a-dime action. His breath caught with what he saw. 

Two adult stegosaurs blocked the road, a younger one between them. There was no movement; the stegs had already moved into a defensive position in front of the baby and now they were waiting for an offensive move from the unknown enemy before them. 

Grant shifted into park and started to roll back the sunroof. "Get out your eraser and start erasing those lines Billy. You're going to have to take the shot."

"Me? Why me?"

"Because you can fit through the sunroof the best. I'm to big, Ryan sure can't do it. Just make sure you're aiming for the middle of the head." 

"Are you kidding me?!"

"You know better than that." 

"They're going to charge the second a shot is fired. Even if I actually hit one in the head, the other will still charge." 

"Don't be so sure. It's going to be confused, it'll take a second to be agitated." 

"Well how long does it take for agitation to turn into aggression?" 

"That all depends on how long you give it. Be accurate and be fast." Grant handed Billy the rifle and moved as close to his door as he could, trying to give Billy room to create a helpful shooting stance. 

"I need a couple more erasers and some white out here."

"Get rid of the line. Now." Grant pointed up to the sunroof. Billy shook his head and then set the rifle down so that he could move into a standing position. 

Teagan watched from the other car as Billy's head came through the open sunroof. He looked down to Grant and took the rifle. It took him a second to maneuver the large rifle through the small sunroof, but once he had that accomplished he quickly set up, bracing himself against the car roof. Teagan couldn't tell which steg he was aiming for so she just held her breath, praying that the enormous animals wouldn't charge. 

Billy held his breath and prayed that the enormous animals wouldn't charge before he could get off at least one shot. He took aim, putting all of his weight onto the roof of the car to prevent himself from shaking. When he was as sure as he was ever going to be that the shot would land between the eyes he pulled the trigger back. With the bang of the escaped bullet all of Billy's lines were erased. He let his breath out in a whoosh as the steg he had aimed for fell into a heap. 

The steg's mate let out a groan and shifted its weight, showing Grant's predicted agitation. The baby began to bellow, clearly upset by the state of affairs. Billy tried to block out the baby's wail of despair as he set up his next shot and took it. Once again he was successful with his shot. When he had the sights on the baby he froze. 

The baby walked over to the second fallen steg and sniffed it. It looked around and let out another wail. It was no longer in Billy's sights and he had to adjust. Once corrected he shut his eyes and waited just a moment. He hoped that in that moment the baby would move out of his sight, run away, get far away from the parade of destruction. Without opening his eyes to check his aim or the baby's position Billy pulled the trigger. After another sightless moment he opened his eyes. The baby lay on the ground, forever protected between the two guarding parents. 

Billy cursed under his breath and then dropped back into the jeep. He clicked the safety on and shoved the rifle onto the floor. 

"Nice shooting," Ryan commented. 

"Don't talk to me about my shooting. And don't you dare call it nice! A trained dolphin could have stood there with a rifle and picked off an unprotected, dumb, harmless beast. There was nothing nice about it!"

"Whoa chill out. All I meant was, well I mean…you had nice…aim." 

Billy spun around and leapt over the armrest between the front seats. He reached for Ryan's throat but with his front seat in the way he couldn't get the angle necessary for an attempted strangulation. Knowing he'd never get his hands around the kid's neck he began swinging. The second swing connected with Ryan's jaw and he let out a yelp of pain.

"How do you like my aim now?" Billy turned back around in his seat. Ryan rubbed his jaw, but made no comments to Billy. He knew that Billy hadn't really been angry at him or his remarks, he had just been deeply affected by having to kill three innocent creatures. Even though he was hurting, Ryan remained completely understanding. 

Grant said nothing as well for a few minutes. He didn't look at Billy, or Ryan, but he could hear Billy breathing deeply in and out. After giving several minutes for everyone to become calm Grant spoke up. "I'm sorry you had to do that. I have nothing else to say about it, but we do need to move on." Grant got no response from either of the boys. 

  



	2. Changes cont

Teagan looked back over her shoulder one last time before she boarded the tiny puddle jumper. It would be the last time she saw New York for quite awhile. And while she knew she would miss it, the prospect of what the future held for her was enough to make her board the plane without another thought. 

Her plane ticket and the bus ticket to the airport had been bought by her new supervisor, who would also be personally picking her up at the airport in Montana. An unusual but pleasant occurrence. The fact that she would be working under this man was, in itself an unusual and mind-boggling occurrence to a 25 year old, recently graduated paleontologist. 

"Teagan. Glad you could make it." A kid her age sat in one of the two back seats of the plane. He was tall, muscular and it was evident that he spent a lot of time outdoors. His hair was bleached blond and he carried a deep tan. Teagan smiled warmly at him and took the seat next to his. 

"Hey Ryan. It's been too long," she said. She shoved one bag under her seat and kept one placed on her lap. 

"No kidding. Mom says hi."

"Auntie? How is she?"

"She's good. So how's the museum treatin' you?"

"It was ok. But I was getting tired of putting old bones together, tagging them, putting them in the right drawers. I want to be out there digging them up." She had been climbing her way up the ladder of command at the Museum of Natural History. In a place like New York it was as close as she could get to dinosaurs, her natural love since childhood. Ryan had been less fortunate. He hadn't ever gotten out of his hometown museum which featured one triceratops skeleton on loan from a bigger museum in another city. He had kept on with his studies and research though.

Both of them, though limited when it came to resources, had caught Alan Grant's attention. 

He had called them each about a month ago and delivered quite the opportunity into their laps. He'd offered to fly them both out to Montana to be a part of his current dig. Four years ago the prospect of unearthing a juvenile velociraptor had seemed great. He had thought he'd had one in the bag. In the middle of the dig he'd been interrupted to take a visit to John Hammond's park on Isla Nublar, Jurassic Park. He'd taken the necessary precautions to guard the tiny skeleton, but when he'd returned the fossil site had been washed away by heavy rain. Grant was furious but immediately began a new dig to find another juvenile. 

Now, four years later he thought he had another one. He had wanted to bring out some new recruits to work on it with him, and someone had suggested Teagan Evens and Ryan Huntington from New York and Vermont respectively. Both of them were making their way up in the field of paleontology. The fact that they were cousins was just convenient. 

That's what Grant had originally wanted the two young paleontologists for, to help with the dig. But things had changed in the past two weeks and now he needed them for something much more important. Much more, exciting wasn't the word of choice, risky perhaps. 

The fact that plans had changed was still unknown to the two kids and they waited for their plane to take of and fly them to unimaginable opportunities. 

"Teagan. Ryan. Good to finally meet you." Alan Grant, now pushing on the age of forty-five but still spending every minute at the dig, walked up to meet the two kids as they came off the plane. 

"Dr. Grant, it's such an honor to be here and to meet you." Teagan took his outstretched hand and shook it, then moved aside as Ryan stepped up. 

"This is just amazing. It's great to meet you." 

"And likewise. How was your flight?"

"Fine. Though it's good to be back on the ground."

"See, now that's something you and I have in common boy. The ground suits us better than the air."

"Speaking of the ground, when do we start?" Teagan looked around the desolate airport. She spotted a gray jeep across the parking lot and figured it must be Dr. Grant's car. When she squinted her eyes she could see that there was someone sitting in the passenger's seat. A blond woman who looked to be in her mid thirties sat there reading something that she had laid across the dashboard. 

"Is that Dr. Sattler?" Teagan asked, taking a few steps forward. 

"Sure is. Why don't we get going and we'll drive over to the site. I've got a lot to fill you two in on, and not much time to do it in." The two kids grabbed their bags and followed Grant across the parking lot. As they approached the jeep Ellie got out of the car and came towards them. She was dressed in her usual hiking boots and khaki shorts. The clothes had always suited her just fine and she saw no reason to change her style. She had stayed beside Grant since Jurassic Park. They hadn't talked much about their experiences but got right back to work. Until now that was. 

"Hey there. Great to meet you two." Ellie took Teagan's hand and then Ryan's. 

"Wow, no, it's great to meet you." Ryan threw his bag into the back seat and grabbed Teagan's, tossing it over also. Ellie walked back around and got in the front seat. Grant got into the driver's seat and Teagan and Ryan piled in back with the bags. Grant pulled out of the parking lot onto a long stretch of Montana highway. 

"So, how much of the skeleton do you have uncovered?" Teagan asked. She leaned forward and raised her voice over the sound of the wind. Ellie turned around and faced the back. 

"Just the skull. We only found it a few days ago. We had found a few new nests and were hoping to find a juvenile. We got lucky I guess. Let me ask you something, both of you. What do you know about Jurassic Park?"

Ryan smiled slightly and leaned back against the seat. "A lot."

"Like what, what exactly do you know?" Grant yelled from the front.

Teagan looked at Ryan then back at Ellie. "Built by John Hammond, took him about five years. He got dino DNA from insects trapped in amber and was able to genetically recreate a dinosaur after only ten years or so of research. The park was due to open in '94 but you two, and Hammond's lawyer, Robert Gennero, and Ian Malcolm went down to inspect it over a weekend. There were several deaths and the surviving people, you two, Malcolm, Hammond and his two grandkids, were forced to leave the island after barely surviving. Uh, there were 15 different species I believe. They weren't supposed to breed but they did due to West Indian frog DNA used to fill in the gaps in the gene sequence. They didn't actually produce the dinos on Isla Nublar, but on Isla Sorna, site B. Two teams, one from Hammond, one from InGen were sent to site B a couple years ago and that also ended horribly. I don't think anyone's been out there since. The dinos are surviving without lysine which they aren't supposed to be able to do. But then again they weren't supposed to be able to breed."

"Sounds like you've read up on this. You know a lot more than most people."

"Yeah, we've both been fascinated with the whole idea of there being real dinosaurs out there. Alive and walking around." Ryan once again leaned forward to join the conversation. 

"Yeah, that's what I was saying about this time four years ago. Actually, four years ago…yesterday." Ellie looked down at her digital watch, confirming the date. "But you're right, it is fascinating."

"Why'd you ask?" Teagan slipped a hair tie off her wrist and tied her long hair back. She'd been meaning to cut it short for the hot trip out west but it always seemed to slip her mind. Now she would just have to suffer. 

"We'll tell you all about it when we get to the site. It should be another hour or so," Grant yelled back, picking up another five miles an hour. "Or maybe forty-five minutes. I'm sorta in a hurry."

"Why? What?. It's not dark for another three hours. That's plenty of time to tour the site."

"Don't worry. You'll see when we get there." Teagan and Ryan looked at each other then settled back into their seats. Grant and Ellie started a quiet, private conversation up front. Ryan turned away to look out the window, enjoying the flat-out nothingness of Montana. Teagan continued to watch the conversation heating up in the front. She couldn't catch any of the words, but they sure were arguing about something. Grant seemed to be refusing something Ellie wanted. She gave up trying to figure it out and scanned around the interior of the car. 

There was a folder tucked between the two front seats. She recognized it as the blue one Ellie had been reading out of before they met. She leaned towards Ryan so she could read what was printed on the tag. InGen. 

She nudged Ryan's shoulder and pointed to it. He read the tag then looked at her with an arched eyebrow. 'So what' he mouthed. Teagan just gave him a shrug and mouthed the word 'weird' back at him. Ryan smiled and shook his head, then returned to his window watching. Teagan desperately wanted to grab the folder now. She'd always had a burning curiosity for the unknown and…well, the buried. Go figure, she was a paleontologist. 

The rest of the ride was pretty much silent. Ellie told stories about some of the other guys at the site, warning them about some of the more interesting personality traits of a few. She mentioned one kid, Billy Brennan who was also new at the site. He had been one of Grant's students for a few years now and Grant had also been watching him. Ellie didn't get into details at all, just that the three of them should get along. 

Forty minutes later the dusty jeep pulled off the highway on to an equally desolate dirt road that headed off to a huge pit about a mile or two off into the distance. Teagan stood up in her seat gripping the top frame of the jeep. Ryan stood up beside her. While the dust and flying dirt might bother some, it was the element the two young adults had been waiting for all their lives. 

Grant pulled up next to a tiny trailer and parked the jeep. He and Ellie hopped out and waved for the kids to follow. They grabbed their things and tossed them to the ground, sending up another wonderful cloud of dust. They followed their supervisor over to a group of people standing under a tarp constructed tent. They were just sitting around in the shade drinking beers. One of their few relaxing moments of the day. 

"Hey guys, I'd like you all to meet our new partners. Teagan Evens and Ryan Huntington." The group of people whistled and cheered their greeting. Grant turned to face his new students. "I'm sure you'd get along just fine with everyone. They're really a great bunch of people, as you can see. Although usually not that lazy." He turned to face the group in mock disapproval. "Now I'd like you to meet Billy and we can begin on our real item of business."

"Great. I've been itching to see this skeleton since…ha, since I was born." Ryan pulled a handkerchief out of his back pocket and wiped dirt out of his eyes. Not because it was bothering him, but out of necessity to see. He'd never been in one area with so much dirt before and he loved every little grain of it. Teagan was soaking up the sound her boots made crunching in the dirt. In New York she didn't get to hear that much, unless she wanted to go crunch around in the dirt in Central Park. 

They followed Grant and Ellie back over to the trailer. The tiny tin box had one good thing going for it, it was air conditioned. Teagan walked in first and scanned the entire trailer with a quick glance before moving all the way inside. When everyone else was in Grant yelled towards the back of the trailer and another kid came out of a tiny room which could barely pass for a closet. Teagan figured the kid was her age, tall, muscular with curly dirty blond hair. 

"Billy Brennan, this is Ryan Huntington," Billy shook Ryan's hand, " and Teagan Evens." Billy took Teagan's hand and smiled. 

Billy was somewhat taken with Teagan. He'd grown up the youngest of 3 boys. Life with them had made him daring and tough. He'd never really had a girlfriend, his brothers took the gold in that department. So when it came to girls, he was a shy as a schoolboy. Plus most girls he ever had the chance to talk to found him to be too dull, dinosaurs on the brain. Girls in his hometown wanted the well dressed football quarterback. Teagan would be different though, he could tell. 

Her long, brown ponytail was coming lose and she had fly-aways all over the place. She showed no signs of fixing them. Her shorts and shirt, hands and face were already covered in a fine layer of dust. She didn't even seem to notice. And she had shook his hand without a second glance to the calluses and dirt. 

Teagan liked Billy instantly. She was like that with some people. Like her, he was coated in dust. Perfect. It suited their natural surroundings. She was so tired of city boys. She wanted someone who would be happiest out there on the dig with her. 

"It's good to meet both of you. I'm glad your finally here. Now maybe Dr. Grant will let us all in on the secret he's been keeping." Billy stepped back to stand beside Teagan and looked toward Grant expectantly. 

"I know that the three of you came here expecting to dig up a juvenile velociraptor. That isn't exactly true," Ellie said. 

"It was the intended purpose of your trip. And I'm sorry that things have changed. A pressing matter has come up in the past two weeks. I think you three should take a seat." Grant motioned to a dusty couch against the back wall. Billy, Ryan, and Teagan took a seat without taking their eyes off Grant. "I'm offering you a different opportunity now, a chance of a lifetime to some. But it is just that, a chance, a risk, and truthfully something so dangerous if you want to say no and board a plane back home, I will think nothing less of you as a person or professional."

Billy had been waiting in the trailer all day for Teagan and Ryan to show up. He hadn't seen the skeleton and was told that when the other two arrived an explanation would be given. That only left him seven hours to think up a million and a half reasons for the delay. Teagan and Ryan only had known there was a change in plan for five minutes, but both of them had quickly formulated a million explanations each. Ryan leaned forward, elbows on his knees, and listened intently to Grant. 

"I swore I would never come into any contact with Hammond again. His park, his ideas, his dinosaurs. Nothing. I would have to be crazy to put myself in that situation again. Well currently not only am I crazy enough to put myself there, but I'm crazy enough to bring you three along with me, back to his island."

"To…Jurassic Park," Ryan said. He began laughing. "That's rich."

"There will be a helicopter here in about ten minutes. Get your bags together and be ready." Ryan stopped laughing. After a pause Grant added, "I told you I was in a hurry."

"You're serious aren't you. You're going to drag us out to that God forsaken island."

"No, I'm not going to drag you. I told you, if you want to leave, go. You have ten minutes to decide."

"Wow, I thought you were brilliant, but man, you're crazy." Ryan stood up and put his hands on his hips. He walked to the middle of the trailer and began flinging cabinets open. "Where the hell do you keep the frickin' cups?"

"Ryan. Chill out. He said you didn't have to go," Teagan said. She didn't move from her seat on the couch. She was talking to the floor. Ryan stopped his frantic search and walked back to the couch. 

"Are you kidding me? I don't even have to ask, I know you're going. And if you're going, I'm going. All I'm wondering is if Billy has enough brains to walk out that trailer door now."

"Not a chance."

"Okay, then. Ten minutes. I'll see you all outside." Grant stood up and walked toward the door. Before he walked out he paused. "I want you all to understand the extreme danger of what I'm asking you. There is every possibility you will not come back alive." When no one said anything he left the trailer. Ellie hesitated a moment and then followed. 

"Don't you think what we're doing is a little unfair to those kids. They might think they know what Jurassic Park is, but Alan, they have no idea. They probably think like everyone else out there that they'll be safe. They know people died there, but they don't pay attention to that fact. We promised these kids a juvenile velociraptor skeleton, not an up close and personal, possibly deadly encounter with a live one."

"I know that. You know this was my last choice. I didn't choose people I didn't think could handle it. I've checked their backgrounds and in every possible aspect they are the best. We have to go out there and we can't go alone."

"Then why can't we take one of the guys. Edmund, or Josh, or geez, even Pete. Someone older, who can make a decision not based on what these kids are basing their decision on."

"And what's that?"

"They want to see a dinosaur. A skeleton would have meet their every expectation and now you're offering them a chance to see a walking, breathing one. You knew Alan, you knew they would come."

"You're right. In fact, I was counting on it." 

"You should have told them everything, let them know what they're walking into."

"You and I both know that wasn't an option. There isn't time."

"There's plenty of time, this is not a time sensitive issue. The dinosaurs aren't going anywhere."

"Hammond wanted us out there last week."

"Screw Hammond. We should have told them."

A deep rumble echoed across the sky, cutting off any further argument. Ellie and Grant both looked up toward the west, shielding their eyes from the setting sun. A helicopter roared into view. There were no markings on the side but Grant new where it was coming from. He ran back into the trailer and grabbed an overnight bag off the floor. The kids were still sitting on the couch. 

"'Copter's here, if you're coming, lets go." Grant walked out without waiting. Teagan got up and followed him, leaving the two boys behind. Billy stood up and dusted off his pants, showing dirt and grime onto the floor. He put his hand out to Ryan. 

"It's been nice knowing you," Billy said. 

"What, you're not going? But you just said you were." 

"Oh no, I'm going. But like I said, been nice knowing you. Get a good look around, we might not make it back." Billy picked his bag up off the floor and walked to the trailer door.

"What? What do you mean we might not make it back. Are you serious?" Ryan walked up to Billy. He looked him straight in the eye. Billy just laughed and pushed open the door, letting the hot air pouring in. 

"Hang on to your butts, we've got a long journey ahead," Billy said, walking out the door. Ryan followed, closing the door behind him. He jogged over to the jeep and picked up his bag. Teagan, Ellie, and Grant were already on the helicopter and Billy was throwing his stuff inside. Ryan ducked and made his was over, stopping once to turn and look at the sun set behind the mountains. 

Teagan had a million questions running through her mind. She wanted to know why they were going, what the catch was, what would be waiting for her there. She knew something on that island was very important or she wouldn't be on a possible one way trip to it with Dr. Alan Grant. 

He had many times since the first incident commented that no force on heaven or earth would get him to go back to Jurassic Park. Something had happened though, something only Grant could get a handle on, although apparently not without some help. 

Billy sat staring out the window thinking much the same as Teagan. He wanted to scream all those questions at Grant, but knew that would get no one anywhere except for angry. So he just bit his tongue and waited. Ryan had no questions running through his mind about what was ahead. He only wondered what he was leaving behind, and what he may possibly never see again. 

An hour into the trip Grant decided it was time to completely fill the kids in on the situation, before they reached their destination. Once the helicopter landed on Isla Nublar there would probably be no time for explanations, only action. 

He cleared his throat and everyone looked at him expectantly. He glimpsed out the window, suddenly wishing he was anywhere but on that plane faced with all those questioning eyes. He suddenly wished he had never dragged the poor kids to their possible destruction. He wanted to turn around and yell to the pilot to turn back. But instead he cleared his throat once more and began speaking. 

"I suppose it would have been more practical, if nothing more than ethical and moral to tell you what we're headed towards before I had you all on the helicopter. Truth is, there wasn't time. Not to try and ease the harshness of what I've done, but I needed you. You are the best for the task at hand. A lot rests on what we do on this island in the next few days. If the problem we're faced with escalates we could be looking at many more deaths, and a very real possibility of dinosaurs escaping. The problem we're facing is evolution."

"What about it. Everyone knew the dinosaurs would evolve. It was expected. Besides, it's not an imminent problem. No point in trying to stop it." Ryan said, leaning forward on his knees.

"I'm not talking about stopping it. It's too late for that."

"You mean they've already evolved. That's impossible. It's only been a few years. That would be the fastest evolution ever. That's mind bogglingly fast." Teagan commented. 

"I know. No one could have ever predicted the rate and degree of evolution that these animals are undergoing. It is mind boggling. But it's happening. And if it continues without intervention, it won't be long until these dinosaurs are on the mainland, taking back what would have been theirs." 

"You've got to be kidding me," Ryan said, shaking his head and leaning back into the seat. "I thought without human help they couldn't get off that island."

"I assure you, there is no kidding involved. These animals are taking on odd characteristics of evolution. They aren't evolving the way they were supposed to. It's almost more of a…" Ellie stopped, searching for a word. "Perhaps evolution isn't even the correct term to be associated with these changes. I would say mutation, abnormalities, those words are far more precise." Ellie ignored Ryan's inquiry about the dinos getting off the island. That was a concern for later.

"Mutation? Into what?" Teagan questioned, talking more towards Ellie than Grant. But it was Grant who answered. 

"Raptor claws have been found in purely T-Rex territory. Traces of dilophosaur venom have been found in areas known to be inhabited by raptors only." 

"So, they're migrating, changing their surroundings." Teagan said, stating the simplest and most logical of explanations. 

"No, they aren't. That was the first possibility that was looked into. It was quickly and easily crossed off the list. Aerial photography, computer analysis proved all the dinosaurs are still in their intended habitats, even though there are no more barriers keeping them there. Plus-"

"Hold up. No more barriers. What do you mean. Like the fences aren't electrified anymore?" Ryan once again sat upright. 

"The generators that supplied the power were cut off a long time ago. But most of the fences have also come down in weather, crosswinds. And the animals have done a fairly good job at taking them down themselves. Without the electricity, the fences were hardly an adequate enclosure."

"So we're going onto this island where the dinosaurs aren't even caged in anymore?"

"Right. Now I warned you this was going to be dangerous. I gave you the opportunity to leave."

"He did Ryan. You followed. And it's too late now." Teagan patted her cousin's hand, who returned the gesture with a slight scowl and turned away. "So you're sure they are all still where they were supposed to be?"

"Positive. They formed habitats while they were enclosed. They simply kept to their own places even after the park was shut down. A natures way sort of thing."

"So what other possibilities are on the list."

"Like Ellie was saying, mutation. The T-Rexes are taking on qualities of the raptors, the raptors are taking on qualities of the spitters. And who knows what else. Fact is, most of these dinosaurs where near unstoppable before, if they take on characteristics of each other, unstoppable won't be that far away."

"So the raptors can now spit venom or something?" Billy asked, bringing his voice into the conversation for the first time. 

"That's what we think. It's a little bit of an imagination stretch but what if something like a raptor and a teradon crossed, a flying raptor. Could you imagine."

"No, because like you said, it is a major imagination stretch. The wings of a teradon couldn't support a raptor. A raptor's body isn't built to fly. So even if one was born with wings, it would do no good."

"To quote the words of a friend 'life will find a way'. I didn't believe him the first time he said those words. But I won't shove them aside a second time. I also see the numerous problems with a raptor trying to fly. I too don't see how it could work. But I don't feel like tempting fate."

"Is that what you're afraid of, the dinosaurs flying off the island?" Ryan asked with a slight smirk on his face. Grants only reply was a shrug of his shoulders. 

Teagan had been watching and listening to the conversation, taking in every word. Now she spoke up again. "Dr. Grant, I follow all that you're saying. And I see the danger in it, assuming somehow the dinosaurs did leave Isla Nublar. But how are we to stop it, and more immediately, what caused it?" 

"After the park shut down Hammond didn't pull all of his men out immediately. He kept researchers and scientists in the park for nearly a year. It was at the end of that year that these mutations began showing up. They were pretty much ignored, until last year. When another group of researchers was sent in. They reported back once, with the same results the previous researchers had given. They turned up strong evidence of rapid mutation. After that though they never received another contact from them.

"Hammond was afraid to send anyone else in. But with government and legal action pressing in on him, he had to find out somehow exactly how bad the situation was. He sent in one more team of five and two made it out."

"So what are we, another research team being sent in to battle the forces?" Ryan questioned. 

"No, think of yourself as more of an extermination team. We're supposed to go in there and root out the mutations, the abnormalities."

"Why don't they just exterminate the whole island. Be done with the whole mess."

Grant paused, a look of indecision flickered across his face. "That's what I thought. But it isn't my decision to make. I think, in fact I know, Hammond is still holding on to some minute hope that his island could succeed. It's ridiculous."

"So why did you agree to go along with this?" Teagan asked Grant.

"Because they needed someone with experience. And-"

"We don't have experience. We are as good as dead out there," Ryan said, cutting Grant off. 

"No you aren't. We're going to fill you in on all we know. You know enough about dinosaurs to be smart about what you're doing. You'll know when to lead and when to follow. We took a long time to choose who would come along with us and we're fully confident in your abilities."

"I just can't believe that you would up and go with all of this. And bringing other people into it. You always seemed like you would do whatever it took to keep yourself and more importantly other people away from this mess."

"I would. Actually that is the point, as I was about to say. Hammond is sending us in to exterminate, I'm going in to destroy. But in reality those legal matters haven't changed Hammond, he is ever the entrepreneur as is InGen. Within two weeks from now Hammond is sending in another team."

"He's a busy guy," Ryan cut in. 

"You have no idea. He is sending in another team to extract normal dinosaurs. He's going to bring them back to the mainland and start his park in San Francisco. Then after a matter of time, those dinosaurs will have mutated and he'll have mutated dinosaurs on the mainland. " Grant thought over all that he knew. The truth was coming out, just not all of it. 

"He already tried to create the park over there. It failed."

"He's trying again. He thinks he's learned from his mistakes, but obviously not." 

"How are they going to let him do that?"

"The same way they were going to let him do it before."

"But after all that has happened? San Francisco is still going to let him? I mean they had a T-Rex running loose through the city!"

"Well yeah, but you know politics and law. Since Hammond has laid low and not made any moves, no steps have been taken to prevent him from acting in the future. Technically there is nothing saying Hammond cannot open his park." 

"So what is it you're trying to do. I'm so confused. Are you or are you not working for Hammond?" Billy asked, trying to clear everything up in his mind.

"I, we, are not. We simply mooched off Hammond, let him believe we were working for him, to get to the island and to get a moderate amount of supplies, with Hammond paying the bill. Once we're on the island, we're working for ourselves, destroying all that we can so that Hammond's next team won't be able to take dinosaurs off this island."

"You really think that'll work? That we'll be able to do enough damage." Teagan liked Grant's idea, but it was so large scale. 

"We do what damage we can to the dinosaurs, and then buildings, and then docks and landing pads. Anything and everything that we can. We are a five person demolition team." 

"You're risking all of our lives just to stop Hammond, why don't you leave it to someone else. Why don't you turn him in to the authorities?" Ryan asked.

"There is no one else to do it. No one else knows the island well enough, at least no one willing to destroy it. The authorities would just think I was crazy."

"Don't you think Hammond will press charges when he finds out what you did?"

"Most likely not. He wouldn't have a leg to stand on."

"Well I hope you have one darn good plan."

"If we work together and think this through we'll be fine. It's gonna be hard, I won't lie about that. But we can't leave a park for Hammond to come back to, there can't be anything here for his next team." 

"We're gonna die," Ryan said, marking his statement with a sigh. 

"If you listen, and pay attention you will make it off the island." The words sounded reassuring, but Teagan, Ryan and Billy noted the tone behind the words and the look in Grants face. Instead of feeling better, their stomachs dropped and they felt sure only their death lay ahead.

"Anyway, to answer your question about how this happened." Grant changed the subject and quickly gained the kids attention once again. "Research was extensive when they were creating these dinosaurs, extracting blood and DNA. But mistakes, human or nature, are inevitable. They obviously didn't show up immediately, but they are now. We think that perhaps the DNA was tainted. Two different species of dinosaur DNA mixed into the same blood sample from the mosquito, maybe such small amounts of one that it wasn't even picked up by the computers. Now though that DNA is being picked up in the dinosaurs and causing genetic mistakes. Then they begin breeding and before you know it, it isn't a genetic mistake, it's a new specie."

"So it's human error?" Billy said, rolling his eyes. 

"Most likely. It may have been the mosquitoes they were extracting blood from had fed off of two different dinosaurs, so it was carrying two different types of blood with DNA. Scientists may not have filtered the blood as well as they thought they did. DNA was still mixed."

"It's sort of like when they added frog DNA. It only filled in small gaps in the gene sequence, but it's presence resulted in an enormous genetic mishap. It was its presence alone allowed the dinosaurs to breed. So if there were only trace amounts of dilophosaur DNA mixed in with the raptor DNA, it's easy to see the sort of mishaps that could occur." Ellie entered the conversation once again, relating the current problem to one that had already been accepted; the dinosaurs breeding. 

"It makes sense, assuming that sort of genetic coding and genetic integration is possible," Billy took turns alternately staring at Ellie and then Grant. 

Once again it was Ellie that answered. "All we have now are theories. What we've told you is pretty much all we know. I'm going on that this sort of genetic integration is possible, because it's happening."

"You are sure without a doubt it's a mutation and not a researching error. They were seeing things that weren't really there." Ryan asked, still not completely ready to believe what he was hearing.

"I've seen photos, I'm sure," Grant said. "I'll answer the rest of your questions when we get there, when the time comes. You've had a lot thrown into your lap in the last half hour. Take some time to absorb it." Grant leaned back and pulled his hat down over his eyes. "Resting might be a good idea too, who knows how much rest we'll get once landed."

The conversation ended there. Ellie leaned her head against the window and closed her eyes. Ryan's eyes were glued to the ocean passing underneath. Teagan turned to talk to Billy, but he was furiously making notes in a notebook. She tried reading them, but his handwriting was to scribbled. So she leaned her head back and tried to fall into a sleep. It didn't come easily, but it came. 

The helicopter dropped suddenly, pushing Teagan hard against Billy. She awoke with a jerk and quickly righted herself. Billy was laughing and offered Teagan one half her seatbelt. She looked around and saw that everyone was now awake and quickly fastening their belts. She took the half from Billy and searched around the seat for the other half. Seconds later she was buckled and feeling more secure. 

She leaned forward to look out the window past Ryan. The island was beautiful. Trees everywhere, all she could see was green. The helicopter was descending into a narrow and deep valley into which a waterfall crashed. Next to the waterfall was a helipad marked with a giant, yellow X. 

"Once we land we'll do a quick check of equipment. All of our stuff was sent in yesterday. Then we'll get going." Grant was leaning forward as well. He didn't want to get off the helicopter for anything, but he couldn't help but look out the window with some degree of excitement. 

The helicopter landed rather smoothly and Grant swung the door open. Memories rushed at him right then. He clearly remembered seeing the island for the first time. The two jeeps marked with the Jurassic Park logo, waiting to take them to the visitor's center. He pushed those thoughts away and turned to motion the others to get out. Once everyone was moved off the pad he gave a wave to the pilot and the helicopter ascended once again. 

"Everyone wave goodbye to your last chance off this island," Ryan mumbled, watching the helicopter fly away. 

Just like before two jeeps awaited the visitors. This time they were also accompanied by a high-tech camper/trailer, much like the one used by the team sent to Site B. Grant walked over to the camper and unlocked the door. Inside was everything Hammond had thought they would need for the next few days. Of course it wouldn't be enough to support Grant's plan. He was tempted to go check the weapon's closet anyway, but Billy and Teagan came in. 

"So now we've heard the story, we've seen the goods, what's the action?" Billy asked. He walked around the trailer surveying everything. He flipped a few switches and turned the weather satellite on. Seeing the screen flick on he stopped and studied it. "Looks like we've got a storm coming."

"Well that would just figure. Because Murphy's Law hates me." Grant walked over and looked over Billy's shoulder. "Looks big, and it looks like it's going to hit by morning."

"So do we go ahead and start, or wait it out?" Teagan asked, wandering over to the weapon's closet.

"We wait. Once we get started I don't want to stop. I want to get it all done and get off this island."

"Then why don't we just start. We might as well get some stuff done while we can." Billy turned the monitor back off and turned to face Grant. 

"Because I know we can't finish it all by the time this storm hits. It's very possible it will hit in the next few hours."

"So we go out and come back in when it starts to rain."

"Billy, please. I do not want to go out into the field twice. It will take enough to get all of us out there once."

The conversation stopped. Teagan was just about to open the door to the weapon's closet. "Come on. I want to get moving." Grant motioned for the two to follow him back outside. 

Ellie had started one of the jeeps and pulled it into the lead on the trail. "Teagan why don't you come with me." Ellie waved her forward, she grabbed her stuff and threw it in the back. "Grant drive the camper, Billy and Ryan, you two follow me with the other jeep." 

Grant handed Billy a set of keys and turned back to the camper, getting inside and closing the door. He didn't hesitate a second to lock the door behind him. Once everyone was in their respective vehicles they moved out. 

They immediately passed through two extremely large metal gates. Signs warned of high voltage, but there was no longer any danger now that the power was out. The gates hung open and didn't slow them down any.

After fifteen minutes of driving the first building appeared. It was still in good shape, not much damage done to the outside over the years. Teagan guessed it was the visitor's center and voiced that much to Ellie. 

"You got it, the scene of the final show down. We're going to base here. It's the most convenient spot. Plus there may still be things inside that we can use." She pulled the jeep up and over the automated track for the tour. She cut the engine and got out. Billy pulled in behind them and Grant parked the trailer a little further out. 

No one moved up the steps. They all just stood there, looking around. Ellie couldn't bring herself to go inside. She remembered all too well what had happened last time she'd been in that very spot. And the memories did nothing to warm her insides. At last Billy moved forward and the other two kids followed. Ellie waited for Grant. 

Ryan thought outside may have looked undamaged, but the inside was a whole different story. Pieces of an unknown skeleton lay all over the floor, after a closer look at some of the major bones Ryan identified it as a T-Rex. It looked like it had once hung from the ceiling, but had come down long ago. A banner lay across with length of the lobby saying something about dinosaurs ruling the earth. Teagan stepped over the banner into the center of the skeleton mess. She turned, checking out all angles of the room. Ryan cautiously moved a few steps up a curving staircase. 

Ellie and Grant slowly moved in through the doors. The scene replaying in each of their minds. _They stood in the center of the room, trying to guard Tim and Lex. They had raptors on every side. No where to go. A T-Rex burst in through the side wall and attacked a raptor, evoking an attack from the others. They escaped because their enemy had made a mistake. _

Other than the mess they had made long ago, the front lobby seemed unharmed by the years. The dinosaurs hadn't seemed to pay it any mind. The plants in the lobby had even managed to survive by some miracle. Grant thought it highly unlikely that the dinos had ventured upstairs and hoped it would be in a similar condition. 

Teagan was walking around reading various billboards that were put up for the education of visitors. Even though she knew how InGen had recreated the dinosaurs, reading it from the source was amazing. However, she noted that they had skimmed over a few of the more technical details. Billy had joined Ryan on the stairs and Ellie and Grant began walking toward them. Teagan heard their motion and looked over, following Grant and Ellie after one last glance at the billboard. 

The group moved up the stairs, keeping their eyes and ears open for signs of dinosaurs. Just because Grant thought it was unlikely they were upstairs, didn't mean it was impossible. When they reached the top landing they all stood and took a detailed look around. Ellie turned around to look back down the stairs to make sure nothing was following them. No one saw anything so they moved forward. 

The upstairs was mainly composed of offices and a few minor labs. Grant remembered there were also several playrooms set up for infant dinos. He vividly remembered watching a woman play with a juvenile velociraptor in one of the rooms. Billy and Ryan walked into the closest office. Things were still in order. When the workers had left work for that weekend long ago, they had fully expected to come back on Monday. 

Billy opened a few drawers but found nothing of interest. He turned to leave the office but something in the corner caught his eyes. He took a few steps closer and squatted down to look at it. Dino droppings. They didn't look that old either. 

"Dr. Grant," he yelled out into the hall. "I think we should definitely watch…out…" He trailed off then remained silent. Listening. The sound came again a second later. A low hiss. It sounded like a snake, but Billy knew better. He walked out into the hall, still intent on listening. The others all stood statue still, trying to figure out which direction the sound came from. 

Teagan started back to the stairs. She put her foot on the first step then stumbled backwards. Two crests appeared, raised over sharp eyes. Then more of the pebbly gray head. It bobbed a few times as Teagan scrambled into a standing position and quickly backed up. She never took her eyes off the figure on the stairs. Not looking where she was going she backed right into Billy. 

He grabbed her shoulders and lightly pushed her behind him, taking a few steps forward. He didn't have to go far to see what was standing on the steps, waiting for them. The slightly elongated snout filled with razor-sharp teeth, rusty colors striped down over its sides, and intelligent, piercing eyes gave the species away immediately. 

"Raptor. He's just standing there." 

"He's just blocking our exit. They're pack hunters. This one's not the attacker, it's the distraction." Grant turned in a circle, looking for the others raptors he knew were there. The kids walked over to Grant and Ellie and they all moved together into a tight group, someone looking in every direction. The only raptor they could see was the one on the stairs. With Ryan keeping an eye on that one, they slowly moved off down the hall. 

They passed several offices on the right, the playrooms on the left. At the end of the hall was a single steel door. Grant realized his mistake the second he made it. They shouldn't have been moving down the hall. They were trapping themselves. Another hiss issued from an office back towards the stairs. They stopped, standing tense. 

A raptor jumped lightly through the broken office window and blocked the exit out of the hall. It lowered its head down to the ground and took another step forward, its six-inch claw clicking on the linoleum. Without another thought the group broke and scattered into different rooms. While splitting up may not have been the thing to do, the raptor paused, not sure which to follow. 

Teagan grabbed the door handle closest to her and pulled. Nothing happened. In her panic she figured it was probably locked. She spared a quick glance over at the raptor whose indecision was over. 

Its head and neck were low, even with his outstretched tail. The two formed perfect balance for it as it ran, straight for Teagan. She grabbed the handle again and pushed, nothing happened. She yelled in frustration and turned to face the raptor, who was only six feet in front of her. The hall was narrow, very narrow, and Teagan prayed she could use that to her advantage. When the raptor was nearly on top of her she crouched as low as she could and moved to the other side of the hall, keeping one leg outstretched behind her. 

Without time to react the raptor slammed into her leg and went down on the other side of it. Its claw caught Teagan's calf and she let out a wail of pain. She didn't have time for that though. She pulled herself up with a door handle turning it in the process. She took a quick moment to be grateful that the door had opened. She turned around and slammed the door, only catching a glimpse of the raptor struggling to get up. She turned the lock and leaned against the door, struggling to catch her breath. She slumped down to the floor. 

Billy heard Teagan yell and started toward the door. He was about to open it and step out into the hall when he heard another door slam. He looked out the office window and Teagan was no longer in the hall. The raptor was sprawled on the ground, angrily hissing and growling, struggling to get up and turned around in the narrow hall. Billy didn't know where the others were, what rooms they had all run to. But he knew he was just going to sit tight until the raptor was long gone. 

The raptor was angry. It had been tricked out of a meal and Ryan figured if it had any pride, it was severely bruised. He was leaning on desk in a tiny office trying to get his heart to stop pounding and his breathing back to normal. Grant stood by the door, looking out the tiny window. Ryan had been watching up to the point that he saw Teagan safely get away. He had been ready to charge out there and distract the stupid beast, but Grant had held him back.

"Start looking in desk drawers. I remember Hammond telling me every room in the place was equipped with emergency gear in case of a dino break out. Not that he thought it would ever happen." 

With minimal light coming in from the hallway they began opening desk drawers and cabinets. All Ryan came up with was a flashlight from the bottom desk drawer. Grant came up a little more successful, a 9 mm in his right hand. 

"That's supposed to stop a velociraptor?"

"Supposed to. It'd have to be to the head, or it would just slow the thing down."

"Aw man, I want something bigger than that. You brought something bigger than that right?"

"What do you want, a shotgun?" Grant moved back to the door. The raptor had righted itself and was snorting at the bottom of the door Teagan was behind. It began digging at the floor, trying to get under the door. After a second of that it began throwing its body at the door. 

"No. I want an Uzi." Grant turned and smiled at the kid. Then turned his attention back to the raptor. Without making a sound he opened the door and put one foot out into the hallway. The raptor continued scratching and pushing at the door, then stopped as if someone had pushed a pause button. Grant raised his arms and aimed for the side of the raptor's head. Unaware of the danger it was in the raptor raised it's arm to the door handle and hooked its claws around it. 

Grant didn't wait anther second, he already knew they could open doors. He pulled the trigger and held his breath. The raptor went down with a thud. 

Ryan pushed his way out behind Grant. He looked down the hallway in both directions then took a few steps toward the raptor. He knew not to assume, but he was pretty sure it was dead, a pool of blood was collecting around it's head. After a moment of silence the door opened and Teagan walked out. She quickly stepped over the raptor and came up to Ryan. 

"Screw Hammond. This island should have been bombed a long time ago." 

"You have a whole different view of the things once they try to eat you, don't you?" Grant opened a few of the office doors, looking for Billy and Ellie.

"Sure do. Where'd you get that?" Teagan pointed to the gun in Grant's hand. 

"In the office. We should check the rest of them, there's probably more."

Billy came out of an office next to the one Ryan and Grant had been hiding in. "That's more like it," he said, motioning to the dead animal. "I thought I would love seeing these things, thought it would be amazing. And it was, til they came after us."

"No kidding man." Ryan nodded in agreement. Grant had disappeared into another office and game out with another gun, identical to the one he held. "Those are not going to do us much good. Shooting at a charging raptor with that, is going to be like swatting a stick at a charging rhino."

"Would you rather walk around with nothing, or a stick?" Grant handed Ryan the gun and moved into another office. 

Ellie came out of the last office in the hall, a shotgun in her hands. 

"Oh sure, she runs into the office with the shotgun." Ryan mumbled. 

"I think we should get out of this hall. Probably out of this building." She turned to the steel door and turned the handle sharply. The door swung open. 

Ellie tentatively put one foot into the room on the other side of the door. She stuck the barrel of the shotgun through the opening and followed with the rest of her body. Grant walked in behind her, followed closely by the three kids. Ellie and Grant walked forward, scanning the room with the gun. Billy and Ryan followed. 

Teagan stayed by the door, holding it open. Her knees were slightly bent, giving her the edge she would need to run if the need arose. 

The room was crowded with computer terminals. Every available table top had a computer on it, those not covered with computers held stacks of printed paper and other mundane office supplies. There was one row of windows overlooking the tree tops, letting in the evening sun. Next to the row of windows, a single unmarked door. One other window looked into one of the playrooms. Ryan walked over to a computer and flicked the on switch. Nothing happened.

"No power, remember," Ellie said, turning in a slow circle, surveying every inch of the room for danger. The setting sun was throwing the corners of the room into shadow, making Ellie uneasy. 

"Yeah, how could I forget. We're on this island without the dinosaur crispers." Billy gave Ryan an odd look. " The electric fences. No electric fences to help, no computers to help, no phones to call for help, not a single prayer for help. Not on this island."

"This used to be one of the main control rooms. They could virtually run the whole island from this one room. It was also designed to be able to be run with minimal staff," Grant explained. 

Teagan had not strayed from the door. She was looking from computer monitor to computer monitor, like she thought one might suddenly flick on. She then began looking for another exit and entrance to the room and found only one, the door by the windows. She squinted to see through the small, dirty window but all she saw were tree tops. Which meant they were relatively high up. A look through the row of windows confirmed that.

Billy turned to see what Teagan was doing, why she had not followed the others the rest of the way into the room. He pivoted on his foot then froze. His breath caught in his throat and he could not make a single noise. He made a few frantic gestures to Teagan who caught them and looked at him quizzically. 

"What?" Her voice and confused looks snapped Billy out of it. 

"SHUT THE DOOR! SHUT THE DOOR NOW!" He ran toward Teagan who turned around to look behind her. She froze in fear for a split second then moved into action, grabbing the edge of the door. She slammed it shut and leaned her back against it. The others turned at Billy's shout. 

The raptor that had been charging at her from down the hall slammed into the door, jarring Teagan slightly. Billy pushed his body against the door also and looked for a lock. 

"The locks! They're computer automated aren't they?!" Billy pushed away from the door, Teagan put even more of her wait against it, bracing her feet against the floor. Ellie stood a few feet away, gun trained on the crack in the door, in case the raptor got in despite their efforts. Grant and Ryan were frantically pushing computer monitors to the floor, clearing off a large metal table. The monitors smashed into the floor and littered the surrounding area with shards of glass. 

Billy ran over to the table and helped Ryan and Grant drag it over. Teagan moved out of the way, letting the door slip open against the raptor's force. Ellie fired one shot and then the door was closed again, barricaded with the desk. 

Without wasting a second Grant turned from the blocked door and searched for another exit. 

"There, over there." Teagan pointed at the exit she had seen earlier and ran over to it, the others following. They were nearly at it when it flung open. Another raptor stood perched on the fire escape that the door led to. 

"They can open doors?!" Teagan yelled.

"If they aren't locked!" Grant yelled back. 

The raptor let out a low hiss and took a step into the room. Teagan backpedaled and turned, looking for an alternate escape. Ellie raised the gun and let off a shot. She had not taken time to aim and the bullet harmlessly ricocheted off the metal doorjamb. The raptor continued to come at them, unfazed. 

"I don't have any more ammo." The gun being useless to her in any other way, Ellie hurled it at the advancing raptor. It hit it in the chest, but did nothing to slow it down. The other raptor was still banging away at their only other exit. 

Grant instinctively looked up. He knew exits sometimes had to be taken in an ascending fashion. They were in luck. There was a large skylight in the center of the ceiling. If they put a chair up on one of the desks, they could easily reach it. Of course if there was a raptor on the roof, their luck ran out. 

Grant grabbed the chair closest to him that didn't roll and found a table situated under the window. He pushed two more computers to the floor and threw the chair up in their place. He looked around the room for one more tool necessary to make their escape. The gun would have been useful, but it now lay behind the raptor. Everyone stared looking at Grant, then taking quick glances back to the raptor inside the room and at the door the other raptor was trying to break down. 

Billy was stuck staring at Grant, trying to work out the problem it was evident he was having. "The gun."

"We can't get it now."

"No, the one under your belt." Grant looked down and saw the 9 mm. _I knew there was a reason I brought these kids along. _He backed away from the table and fired one shot directly into the middle of the window. The glass shattered and rained down onto the table and floor. 

"Come on, come on!" The shot had jarred the raptor and he hopped from foot to foot, agitated. Ellie ran forward and jumped onto the table.

"Ellie, here." Ryan handed her the 9mm Grant had given him and she shoved it under her belt, then grabbed the edge of the window and pulled herself up on the roof.

"It's all clear," she yelled back down, thankful she had no need for the gun...yet. Ryan pulled himself up next, followed by Teagan, who quickly stood up and looked around the roof. A light rain had begun to fall and mist was rolling down into the valley, the storm had arrived. She heard the raptor hiss again from inside.

Billy's fingers grasped the sides of the window. He immediately let out a shout of pain and pulled his hands away from the window frame. Blood was left behind where his hand had been. A large shard of glass had remained in the frame and had sliced open his palm. There was no movement at the window frame for a minute and Ellie began to worry. 

Teagan walked away from the skylight and over to the edge of the roof and looked down. Below the edge was the fire escape and the still-open-door that the raptor had entered through. After a second of hesitation she jumped down onto the metal escape. 

"Teagan! What are you doing?!" Ryan started after her but Ellie called him back. 

"Ryan, I need your help with Billy. He can't pull himself up, his hand is cut too bad." Ryan didn't move, only stared at the edge his cousin and disappeared from. "Ryan! Now!" He pushed aside his concern for Teagan and jogged back to help Ellie pull Billy up onto the roof. 

Teagan squatted down into the jump but quickly stood up again. The raptor had heard the metal clang and turned to face her. She didn't waste another second staring at it, but pushed the door shut. Trapping it inside. This door was equipped with a deadlock on the outside. A strange feature, but Teagan slid it into place and was thankful for it. She backed up against the railing and tried to see back up on the roof. A second later Ryan and Billy's faces appeared over the edge and they jumped down to join her, Billy's hand leaving a thin trail of blood behind. Teagan ripped off a strip of her shirt and began to wrap his hand. 

Grant grasped the edges of the window and pulled himself up, Ellie helping as much as she could. He kicked the chair off the desk before pulling himself all the way out, knowing perfectly well it wouldn't help them at all. As soon as he was on the roof he jumped up and grabbed Ellie's hand. They ran to the edge of the roof and jumped down to the escape. He glanced around to make sure everyone was accounted for, then pushed Teagan towards the ladder that led down to the ground. 

The raptor that Teagan had trapped inside had been banging against the door, trying to get out, much like the other raptor that had been trying to get in. As Ryan began down the ladder after Teagan the banging stopped. Grant heard one low growl and then nothing. He ushered for Billy to hurry and start down. Grant heard another hiss from the raptor. This time it reached his ears from up on the roof. The raptor had jumped through the window and onto the roof, probably with no problem at all. 

"GO! The trailer!" He threw the keys down to Ryan then pushed Ellie to the ladder. As soon as she was out of the way Grant began to make his way down. Halfway to the ground he heard another loud clang of metal, he glanced up. The raptor stood at the edge of the fire escape, lowering his head down, hissing and growling. It had not yet figured out how to follow them down, but Grant had no doubt in moments the raptor would simply jump down. 

"Ellie! Jump, just jump!" He turned as best as he could to watch her. She turned and let go of the railing, jumping and landing hard. She went down when she landed and rolled out of the way. Grant looked up once more and the raptor was gone. Without another thought he jumped and landed next to Ellie. He didn't stop to think where the raptor was, he just followed Ellie around the building to the front. 

He didn't see the kids as they reached the front drive and took a moment to pray they had reached the trailer. Ellie was a few steps ahead of him, running flat out. As she passed the front steps she saw two heads bobbing lightly inside the glass doors. As Grant ran by, the two bobbing heads stepped outside and immediately gave chase. They were done playing games with their meal. 

The trailer door loomed twenty feet in front of them…ten feet. At five feet the side door flung open and Ryan backed away to allow Ellie and Grant to stumble in. They fell to the floor, gasping for air, thankful to still be breathing. Ryan slammed the door shut and engaged the lock. 

No one moved for at least five minutes. They all just sat there, catching their breath and letting their heartbeat return to normal. The raptors had circled the trailer a few times but made no attempt to get in. Now they were no where in sight.

Ryan and Billy sat at a small table built into the trailer wall. A small puddle of blood was forming under Billy's hand.

"We'd better get you cleaned up." Ellie got up off the floor and went to the medical cabinet. She pulled down some bandages and tape and some other things to clean wounds with. With her arms full she joined the boys at the table and began cleaning Billy's hand. A few minutes later it was neatly wrapped in gauze. Teagan pulled herself up off the floor and hobbled over to the table. Running to the trailer had reopened the gash she had received from the raptor. 

"When did you do that?" Ellie asked when Teagan put her foot up on a chair.

"When I tripped the raptor, his claw caught me." Ellie cleaned some dirt out of the cut and bandaged it up. 

"Anyone else?" No one moved. 

"I think we should just leave. We haven't actually done anything yet and two of us have been hurt," Ryan suggested. 

"That would mean we'd been hurt for nothing. I vote we stay and finish the job." Billy held up his uninjured hand in vote. 

"I'm with him." Teagan also held up her hand. Ryan looked back and forth between Ellie and Grant. Ellie slowly raised her hand and Grant followed. Ryan shook his head then slowly raised his hand into the air. 

Ellie put the supplies away and went into the kitchen. She opened some cabinets and pulled an array of junk food out. She threw the stuff on the table and everyone dug in. Eating correctly was not high on their list of things to do while on this island. It lay somewhere just above 'get eaten by a dinosaur'. 

"So how are we going to get rid of enough dinosaurs to discourage the next team?" Ryan asked, wiping his cheese-doodle-cheese-covered-fingers on a napkin. "How many dinosaurs are on this island?"

"Somewhere between two and three hundred at the last count."

"Whoa. This is impossible." 

Grant closed the bag of pretzels he'd been eating out of and folded his hands. "We just have to wipe out what we can. And give some degree of focus to nests."

"No matter what we do, there will be something for the next team to bring back to the mainland."

"I know. I'm hoping we can do enough to discourage Hammond, just get him to stop. Or shed more light on what he's busily been doing behind closed doors. Besides, like I said, we're going to take out the docks as well, his next team is going to have a hard time even getting on the island." 

A beeping filled the trailer and pulled everyone's attention from the window. A red button was flashing on a phone attached to the wall. Teagan was closest so she picked it up.

"Hello. This is Teagan." There was a pause as she listened. When she replied her tone had dropped. "Yeah, just a second." 

She got up and handed the phone to Grant. "It's our wonderful Mr. Hammond."

Grant took the phone from Teagan and put it up to his ear.   
"I trust everything is going well over there?" Hammond asked in his usual cheery voice. 

"Oh yeah. Perfectly. No trouble getting here." Grant stood up and turned his back to the rest of the trailer's occupants. 

"Any trouble of any other sort?"

"Run in with some raptors. Only slight injuries."

"Good good. I knew I picked the right man for the job." 

Grant rolled his eyes. "You sure did." 

"Well I'm sure you're busy. I'll let you get back to work."

Grant suppressed a laugh at the irony of the whole conversation and hung the phone back on the wall. 

"What did he want?" Ryan asked.

"Like you couldn't guess," Teagan replied. 

"We don't have weapon power to do much damage," Ellie pointed out. "We just came equipped to wipe out isolated dinosaurs per Hammond's instructions."

"I know. We're going to have to pick up some more stuff."

"From where?" Billy asked. His face showed the fear he was feeling, already knowing the answer to his question. 

"We'll have to go back out and check the weapons shed. I doubt they cleared anything out of there. Plus the maintenance shed, there were some weapons stored in there. There's an emergency bunker under the visitor's center. They're all equipped with heavy weaponry." Grant emphasized the word heavy. 

"Wonderful. I swear, we are going to get killed before we even begin to wipe anything out." Ryan stood up and stretched out his arms and legs. 

"We should have left you at home," Teagan said, glaring at Ryan. "All you do is complain and make comments."

"That's just the way I am and you know it. Lay off."

"You aren't helping matters at all."

"And I suppose you think you are?"

"Hey! Stop it both of you. Now is not the time to start this. There is no time for this. We're going to have to go out there tonight, and we're all going to have to go, and we're going to have to split up. There is too much to cover in a short time. Now we still have to plan out the process for tomorrow, so we can either plan now, or go out there now and get the weapons."

"Lets get the weapons. No sense in planning if we're just going to end up dying getting the weapons," Ryan said, dodging Teagan's flying fist. 

"Fine. We figure out who goes where, and then we get this over with."

Grant turned once again to face the window. He was trying to figure out who would to where and with who. He knew he and Ellie would have to split up and split the kids up between them. He figured he would put Teagan and Billy with Ellie and he would take Ryan. His sole reasoning was that he believed if the cousins were together it could impair their judgment. Judgment was sometimes the only thing that could keep you alive. 

"Ok, lets get this done with. Ryan you come with me, we'll go to the emergency bunker. The three of you go to the maintenance shed and weapons shed. As soon as you have what we need, get back to the trailer." 

"What kind of weapons do you have that we can use now?" Teagan asked, looking around the trailer. 

"Well here's the question we have to ask ourselves now. We have no idea what we'll find out there. So do we use any of the stuff we brought, or do we save it?" Ellie asked. 

"Use it," everyone said in unison. 

"Yeah, I think so too." She went over and opened the weapons closet. 

Hammond was furious. Grant had lied to him. When the pilot had dropped off the team he had quickly made contact with Hammond to fill him in on Grant's plan, which he had learned by eavesdropping over the headsets. Hammond always tried to see the best in people, giving them the benefit of the doubt, hence the call to Grant. But this time, despite Grant's claims that all was well Hammond knew Grant was up to something. What infuriated Hammond the most was the lack of control he had over the situation. Grant would go ahead and do whatever he wanted, and from California there wasn't a thing Hammond could do to stop him. 

There were things he could do to Grant when he got back, but Hammond really didn't want to take any type of legal action with Alan Grant. He had a certain respect for him as a man and a professional, and the thought of being in a legal battle with him did nothing to calm John. 

He picked up the phone and began to dial his lawyer. Before he hit the last number he stopped. In his fury he had overlooked Site B. Isla Nublar was the Disney Land, but Isla Sorna was the Disney World. 

Even if Grant somehow managed to destroy ever dinosaur on the former Jurassic Park island, there would still be all of Site B. Site B held all the same species as Jurassic Park plus some. And these dinosaurs could prove to be even more useful and profitable, since they were completely independent of human help. Hammond could now imagine a theme park in San Francisco where he would only have to hire minimum staff to watch over the dinosaurs.

Hammond began to laugh. "You go right ahead Mr. Grant. You go ahead and make a game park out of my island." He stopped laughing and stood up. "Now why didn't I think of that before. A game park…" 

Ellie pulled out a large gun and handed it to Teagan. 

"What's this do? Doesn't look like anything I've ever seen," Teagan asked, putting the strap over her shoulder. 

"It's actually a dart gun."

"A dart gun? You've got to be kidding me."

"No. It shoots darts with enough sedative in them to take out a charging elephant in about thirty seconds. It's never been tested, but two darts might do the same for a Rex. Any of the other dinos for sure. "

"Excellent. Ya know, except for those initial thirty seconds."

"During which I would suggest you run." Ellie took out another of the dart guns and handed it to Grant. She distributed other weapons to everyone and closed the closet door. She pulled open a drawer next to the closet and handed a box of extra darts to both Teagan and Grant. Extra ammo went to the others also. 

"We should save the rest for later."

"Are we ready to do this thing?" Grant asked. He looked around at everyone. No one said anything, Teagan nodded her head then started for the door. Ellie and Billy followed her and walked out into the now torrential rain. Before they had moved off very far Grant and Ryan came out of the trailer and started towards the visitor's center. 

Ellie took the lead from Teagan and began around the building. She kept her weapon at the ready and constantly moved her head from side to side looking for danger. Deep in her mind she knew she would never see an attack before it hit her anyway. 

The maintenance shed was located behind the original raptor pen. They walked down a narrow dirt path that ran parallel to the visitor's center and came upon the big steel structure of the raptor cage. The bars of the cage were twisted up and out leaving a large gap in the holding pen, which no longer held anything. The raptors had escaped long ago. 

"If that was where the raptor pen was then this area would most likely currently be the raptor's habitat, right?" Teagan asked. 

"I'm sure of it," was Ellie's reply. 

"So probably no other dinos around?" Billy walked slower than the two girls, keeping an eye on what they had their backs on. 

"The Rex might wander into the territory occasionally. He did four years ago. He might have claimed some of it or lost it back to the raptors. Hard to say. I'm not entirely sure how territorial these dinosaurs are, so there could be overlapping habitats or territories."

Ellie couldn't tear her eyes off of the old raptor pen. She had seen the carnage those animals were capable of, in and out of that pen. A high pitched chirping interrupted her trance and she tore her eyes away from the pen. She turned her head toward the noise, then snapped it around in the opposite direction. If it was a raptor, the attack would be coming from the opposite direction as the distraction. She saw nothing, but heard the squeak again. It didn't sound like raptor. 

"Compys," Teagan muttered. Ellie turned back toward the vocalization and saw a group of six or seven Compsognathus'. They only stood about a foot off the ground and could be characterized as a Jurassic chicken, but they could be nasty. Although they were scavengers, in large groups it was possible they would take the risk of bringing something down themselves. 

"I don't think they'll do anything now. But if we get split up-" Teagan shot Ellie a look as she said that. "If we get split up and you see a group of them, run and make sure you don't trip."

The compys paused and watched them. Perhaps hoping in their tiny brains that one of them would suddenly fall to the ground injured or conveniently dead and supply them with a snack. When the foot-highs realized that was not a possibility, they moved along. As did Ellie, Teagan, and Billy. 

They rounded the damaged raptor cage and Ellie recognized the trail that ran from the raptor pen to the maintenance shed. Last time she'd walked down it she had lost a friend and nearly her own life. 

"Ok, you know that theory that you should never even try to outrun a dog or bear or anything. Cause you don't stand a chance?" Ellie asked. She knew she was just sorta blabbing, but she was scared. 

"Yeah," Teagan said uncertainly. Billy nodded his head. 

"Well at the moment, I say to hell with that theory. I'm running the rest of the way to the building. If I turn around when I get there and you're right behind me, great. If not, I'll be waiting for you inside."

"Ellie…" Teagan started to say something then stopped. She began again. "You've got to keep your cool."

"I know. And once safely inside, I'll take a minute to collect it once again. But not here, not now." With that she turned and began to run. Billy and Teagan followed without hesitation. They reached the shed door with none of the expected problems. Ellie flung open the steel door and waited for the kids to step in before she slammed it shut once again. 

She leaned her back against the cool steel and took big breaths of stale air. Seeing the pen had shaken her. She couldn't figure out why. She'd already had a run in with the raptors and made it out without losing it. But as she had stood there looking at the pen, the trip to the shed with Muldoon had replayed and rattled her severely. As she continued to breath her heart slowed and her nerves calmed. She stood back up and looked around. Teagan and Billy were no longer around. 

Ryan and Grant ran right back into the visitor's center without a pause. Ryan stayed a step behind Grant, since only Grant knew where he was going. He started towards the winding staircase they had gone up before. 

"Whoa man, I'm not going back up there. Weapons or not, no way," Ryan said, stopping short. 

"I'm not going up the stairs. I'm going under them." Grant walked to a door in the wall underneath the stairs.

"Well now that's a different story." Ryan jogged to catch up to Grant. They stepped through the door and closed themselves into a dark hall. Grant clicked on the flashlight he had grabbed from the trailer. The hallway lit up and they proceeded. 

Ten feet down, the hallway turned into a staircase leading into the emergency bunker. Slowly taking the stairs one at a time the pair headed down. The closer to the bunker they got the colder it got, and a musty moldy smell filled the air. They finally reached the bottom and Grant stepped aside so Ryan could come up beside him. 

The room was circular which kept shadows from forming. It was all concrete which made it very cold and made every minuscule noise echo. Bookshelves and metal cabinets circled half of the room. The bookshelves held candles, matches, flashlights, first aide kits and all sorts of emergency gear. Ryan could only guess at what was in the metal cabinets. Two cots were laid out side by side on the other side of the room. Insert two huge trunks and you had the decor of the room. 

Grant handed Ryan the flashlight and walked over to the first metal cabinet. He pulled open the doors. The metal clang echoed through the room, hurting Ryan's ears. The cabinet was filled with weapons. 

Ryan walked over his jaw slightly dropped. "I'm thinking coming out here was definitely a good plan. We're gonna be an army of five."

"We can't take all of this stuff. Too much to carry. And I'd rather not take multiple trips into here. We'll take the best stuff."

"Which would be?" Ryan never was and never would be a weapons buff. He could probably figure out how to shoot any of the stuff he was given, he was betting his life on that fact. But when it came to actually knowing what they did, he had no idea. Grant didn't answer him but handed him two large guns. 

"Can you carry those alright?"

"Yeah, these aren't too heavy. Show me how to shoot." Grant stopped his trek to one of the trunks and turned around. He walked back over to Ryan and took one of the guns from his arms. He positioned the stock under his arm and pointed the forearm at the far wall. He wrapped his finger around the trigger and mock-pulled on it. 

"Boom." He handed the gun back to Ryan and headed back towards the trunk. There was a rusted lock on it but he simply took the butt of one of his guns and slammed it against the padlock. It broke with no resistance and clattered to the floor. The lid creaked loudly when it was opened and dumped piles of dust and dirt to the floor. Grant pulled out a fabric bag and began throwing small boxes into it. 

"What's that?" Ryan asked, coming forward. 

"Extra ammo."

"Oh, well that is a good thing."

"You bet." Grant filled the bag to the top and opened the other trunk, repeating the process. When he was done filling the second bag he handed it to Ryan. "Guns are loaded now, make sure the safety is off before we go back out there." Ryan gave him a blank look. Grant sighed and took a step closer, turning a knob. "Now it is off, to turn it back on you do this." Grant showed him and then switched it back off. 

"Make sure you remember when you turn it off, so you don't go to shoot at a charging raptor and realize you have the safety on a fraction of a second too late." Ryan's breath caught at Grant's comment. He glanced down one last time to double check the safety was off and then followed Grant back towards the stairs. 

"Teagan! Billy!" Ellie quickly stood up, wiping rain out of her eyes and off her face, and pushing some loose hair behind her ears. 

"We're down here." Billy's voice floated up from down below. 

Ellie took a few steps forward and saw the stairs leading down to the lower level. Holding onto the railing she made her way down stairs. She cursed herself for not bringing a flashlight, she could barely see the steps in front of her. When she reached the bottom she saw Teagan and Billy opening cabinets and boxes. The electricity panel for the fences caged in against the back wall. Ellie shuddered to think that there might be a rotting human arm back there. _Ray Arnold, he was a good man. Didn't stand much of a chance out here though. Neither do we for that - _

"We weren't sure how much time you would need, so we went ahead and started looking," Teagan said, interrupting Ellie's thoughts. Teagan closed the cabinet she was looking in and moved onto the next one. "We haven't actually found anything yet."

"Let me help." Together they opened all of the cabinets downstairs and came up with nothing. They went through every box and also came up empty handed. 

"Are you sure they kept weapons in here?" Billy asked, closing up the last box. 

"I'm positive. I'm just not sure where. Lets go try upstairs." Going slow to keep their footing they headed back upstairs. Facing the front door once again they could go left or right on a catwalk. Teagan and Ellie went right, and Billy went left. 

Billy quickly made his way to the end of the metal catwalk which opened up into a full-closet sized room. His eyes, having adjusted to the darkness quickly picked out the important things. No weapons, but other necessities. 

He picked out five walkie-talkies turning each one on. The batteries in all of them had held up and the room filled with static hisses. Turning them off he clipped two on to each front pocket and held the other three in his left hand. With his right hand he grabbed two flashlights, clicking one on. Another shelf on the wall held extension cords and extra batteries. He started to leave the room then stopped, setting his collected equipment down on the floor. He turned back to the shelf with the batteries and filled the lower pockets of his cargo pants with them. Feeling satisfied with his discovery and collection he picked up the rest of his gear and walked back down the catwalk. 

Teagan and Ellie hit the weapons room. The maintenance shed had only been equipped with basic weapons. Nothing extraordinary and nothing to help them though what lie ahead. 

"Ya know what, I almost don't want to waste room carrying these things. We should just go to the weapons shed and be able to carry a lot out of there," Ellie said, looking up and down the shelves of weapons. 

"You want this trip to be a waste?"

"It won't be. I found some stuff." Billy came in arms loaded. He handed a walkie-talkie to Ellie and another to Teagan then handed Teagan and Ellie flashlights. He clipped the third walkie-talkie to his belt and fished out some batteries for Ellie and Teagan. "That's what was at the other end of the hall. Figured it would come in handy."

"For sure. So we just head out to the weapons shed?" Teagan asked, clipping her walkie-talkie down. 

"We might as well." Ellie motioned for Billy to leave the room. They followed his flashlight beam back to the front door. Billy cracked it open and rain came pouring in, tilted by the wind. 

"Why does it always have to rain?" Ellie wondered aloud. She started to push out the door then froze. 

"What? What is it?" Teagan asked from inside. 

"Is there a back door out of this place?"

"I don't know."

"I think we had better find one." 

"What? Why?" Teagan shoved past Billy and out the door, coming up next to Ellie. She froze. 

Twenty yards away, head bent to the ground was the Rex. Something had caught it's interest on the ground and it was busy sniffing it out. It gave one last loud sniff then raised it's head to the sky, squinting into the rain. From the tip of it's raised snout down to its feet the Rex stood nearly twenty-three feet tall. When it lowered it's head to normal level it still stood a terrifying eighteen feet tall. The Rex opened its mouth and let out an almost comical sneeze, but in the process reveled the not-at-all-comical twelve inch teeth. The Rex returned to it's sniffing of the treetops. Any remote possibility of escape behind it was cut off by its tail, which was stretched across the dirt path to the raptor pen. 

Teagan started to back up toward the door. The rex stopped his sniffing altogether and slowly turned his head toward the two outside. 

"Don't move," Ellie breathed out. 

The Rex stood as statue still as Ellie and Teagan. He was waiting for the movement that would give his prey away. It had caught Teagan's slight movement, but now had lost her against a background of stillness. It began sniffing at the air again, this time focusing his nose at the area around the shed. He caught very faint whiffs of the prey through the rain, but could not locate it well enough without seeing it. The Rex waited for his prey to move. Teagan and Ellie waited for the Rex to move. It was not a match of strength or wit, but simply a match of patience. 

Grant opened the door at the end of the hall and peered out. They hadn't run into any trouble getting to the emergency bunker but he had an uneasy feeling about getting back out. Seeing nothing he stepped into the lobby with Ryan right behind him. 

"So are we just going to go back to the trailer and wait for the others?" Ryan asked. He held one gun out in front of him, safety off, with the others slung over his shoulder. 

"Yeah, that was the plan."

"What if they're in trouble?"

"We can't start thinking that way. Not yet." 

The game continued. Neither offense nor defense daring to move. Teagan sat studying her opponent. Moving only her eyes, she started at the head and slowly moved her way down it's pebbled back, noticing every inch of sturdy muscle. It's arms were small and more than useless, but it's legs were powerful and impressive. Teagan stopped at the feet, stumped. There was something wrong there. 

"They were right," she breathed out in a hushed whisper. 

"What?" 

"The Rex has mutated, look at it's middle claw." Ellie followed Teagan's instruction and looked down to the ground. The middle claw of the Rex's foot was raised up above the rest. It carried a vicious curve to it that only one dinosaur had ever laid claim to; the raptor. A raptor's middle claw was roughly ten inches long, however this rex's claw was at least twenty inches long, staying in proportion to the Rex's body. 

"No way in hell am I seeing what I am seeing." 

"We should just run back inside, it can't get us if we're in there." Teagan risked a slow glance behind her. The door was only four or five feet away. "I don't want to shoot it and piss it off. Not when we're standing this close to it. " 

"Ok, on three. One…two…," Before three was even out of her mouth they had both turned and hurled themselves to the door. Billy yanked it back for them and slammed it behind them. 

A vibration rumbled through the concrete floor as the Rex lunged at the building. But his prey was safely inside before he reached the door. He bellowed out a thunderous roar that was not stopped by the concrete walls. 

Teagan breathed a sigh of relief that she was inside. "It'll just go away right?"

"No telling." Ellie sat down on the top step to the lower level. "That was close."

"You're not kidding-" Teagan was cut off by a deafening crash. She spun around to the front door which was now bent in at an odd angle. Billy scrambled away from the wall and over to Teagan. The crash was followed by a silence nearly as deafening as the crash itself. All eyes stayed glued on the door. 

Concrete dust showered down from the ceiling and a few pieces of concrete fell from around the door frame, shattering as they hit the floor. More rumbling and vibrations as the Rex backed up for another go. 

It backed up sixty feet or so then lowered its head and started running. As it neared the building it turned its head to the side and continued to run. It rammed the building with six tons of force. This time the front wall completely caved in and the front portion of the roof collapsed. 

Ellie and the kids stood exposed for a second amazed at the force the Rex must have possessed to knock down a concrete building. As the Rex shook his head and cleared its vision, they were snapped out of their trance. As one they barreled down the stairs into the basement. 

"Is there a back door?!" Teagan yelled as she ran.

"God I hope so," Ellie shouted back. At the bottom of the stairs a hallway extended into the darkness. Teagan fumbled for the flashlight at her side. Once she had a good hold on it she clicked it on, illuminating the hallway. The light reflected off a steel door at the end of the hallway, roughly 40 feet down. Teagan leaned forward, increasing her speed. Billy must have been less than a foot behind her, she could hear his frantic breathing. Ellie reached the door a fraction of a second before them and was leaning against it catching her breath. As Teagan ran up she shouted for her to open the door. 

"Wait!" Billy yelled. "We don't know what's on the other side of that." 

"Do we have a choice?" Teagan questioned. "We can go back the other way and get eaten by a Rex, sit here and wait for the building to collapse, or take our chances with door number one." 

"Well when you put it that way."

"He's right though," Ellie said, looking back down the hall. 

"Now is not the time. Just open the door Ellie." Teagan took a step forward and stretched her hand out to the handle. 

Seeing that either way the door would be opened Ellie went ahead and twisted the handle. She opened it just enough for Teagan to peer out. "I don't see anything. It's raining so hard though I can't see anything past the first line of trees."

"We don't want to go any further into the woods than that anyway," Billy said, peeking out the door past Teagan's shoulder. "We should go just beyond it and make our way around the shed."

"We still have to get to the weapon's shed," Teagan said. "Which way is it from here?"

"We would have to go into the woods and walk to the right, half way around the building. There would be a trail there. About 20 yards down that trail is the weapon's shed." Ellie pulled the door open another foot. "The Rex won't be able to see us. But there's no telling what's watching from the woods."

"Sitting around here waiting isn't going to answer that question. Lets just get out to the tree line and go from there." Teagan shoved the door open the rest of the way. "We'll waste less time standing still if we all move together." She stood in the open door way and moved aside, allowing Billy and Ellie to step up next to her. "On the count of three."

"Oh hell, lets just go." Billy shoved Teagan forward and followed closely behind. Ellie was a fraction of an inch behind him. Crouched low to the ground, shielding their eyes from the driving rain they ran into the woods beyond the first tree line without a problem. Now out in the open and unprotected they used hand signals to avoid speaking. 

Each of them gave the woods a thorough scan. Satisfied with the fact that if there was danger they'd never see it coming anyway, Teagan and Billy looked to Ellie for direction. She waved her hand and started walking, keeping the tree line and maintenance shed to her right. Teagan fell in behind her and Billy took up the rear, watching to make sure none of his steps fell onto a branch, breaking it and targeting their whereabouts. 

Ellie moved quickly but quietly through the trees and in no time stood on the edge of the path to the weapon's shed. She stopped and waited until Billy and Teagan were standing beside her. Then she motioned back towards the ruined building they had escaped from. 

The Rex was no longer charging the building, but once again had lifted its head to the sky and now stood still, sniffing. Even through the rain it could smell that prey was near. All it had to do was sniff it out, follow it's nose. With a giant boom that sent the ground rumbling the Rex took a step to the right. Catching another waft of prey it took two more steps around the right side of the building, quickly closing distance to the weapon's shed path. 

Billy nudged Teagan's arm and when he had her attention motioned to the dart gun slung across her shoulder. She lifted the strap over her head and nestled the stock under her arm. Before lining up her sight she glanced at Ellie who simply nodded and then pointed down the path. Teagan nodded once, signaling that she understood and then turned back toward the Rex. She remembered Ellie saying one dart would take out an elephant, so at the very least Teagan would want to use two. 

She lined the crosshairs up with the Rex's neck. Steadying herself as best as she could she tightened her finger around the trigger. She followed the Rex as he took one more step forward and then pulled the trigger, sending a dart flying. Without a moment of hesitation she pulled the trigger again. 

The Rex's reaction was immediate. A bellow of pain, quickly followed by a second let Teagan know that both her shots had found their target. The Rex turned in a tight circle looking for the source of pain. Ellie had already taken off down the path and Billy was no longer standing next to her, but Teagan couldn't help but stand and watch. This magnificent animal looked so ridiculous spinning around chuffing and snorting. 

"Teagan," Billy whispered. She turned around to face him and he emphatically waved her forward. With one more look to the Rex she took off towards Billy. The two kids were half way down the trail when a tremendous boom shook the earth and they knew the Rex was down. Ellie stood at the entrance to the weapon's shed holding the door open for them. As Teagan passed her and entered the compound Ellie said "good job." 

"How long will that keep him out for?" Teagan asked.

"Well it'll keep an elephant down for about an hour. So I would say the Rex'll be down for at least half an hour, probably a little more."

"Well how about we not test that theory. Lets just grab some stuff and get out of here." Billy grabbed the flashlight from his belt and clicked it on. The light revealed shelves upon shelves of what would appear to any novice hunter an array of extremely high-tech weapons. 

"Sweet," Billy muttered under his breath. 

Grant and Ryan slowly moved across the lobby of the visitor's center, constantly scanning the room with their weapons. Out the front doors they could see that the rain continued to mercilessly hammer down on the earth. Thunder sounded in the distance. But there was another sound mixed in with the thunder, another rumbling. Ryan stopped to listen but at Grant's urging continued to move forward. He heard nothing else. 

When the reached the front doors they shoved them open and advanced onto the front steps. Still shielded from the rain they took a second to look around for any signs of raptors. As they were about to get going the rumbling sound echoed through the air again. Ryan looked to Grant with a questioning expression.

"It's a Rex. And its close. We definitely need to get inside the trailer." Grant began to make his way down the steps, keeping his eyes glued to the forest in front of him. Once at the bottom of the steps he ran the rest of the way to the trailer. He and Ryan jumped in and locked the door behind them. With a second thought Grant returned to the door an unlocked it. 

"Why did you do that?" 

"In case the others need to get in here fast. They might not have time to wait around for us to unlock the door." 

"Oh."

"Listen, don't turn any lights on. Don't run anything electric. And don't do anything that will give off any scent. With the Rex somewhere close we don't want to draw it closer."

"Why did we base right here. More than likely it is either Rex territory or Raptor territory." 

"Because there probably isn't anywhere that's any better. And like I said, we needed to get into the visitor's center anyway." 

Ryan went to the fridge and got a bottled water out. Then he sat at the kitchen table and looked out the window. What he saw made him stop, water bottle half way to mouth. "Dr. Grant, you may want to see this." 

Billy walked up to the nearest shelf and began inspecting the weapons laid out on it. "What kind of stuff do we need to take?"

"The heavy duty stuff. No more dart guns, we need stuff to kill," Ellie said, bringing out her own flashlight. She walked across the room to another door at the far end of the shed. When she tried to open it she found that it was locked. "We need to get in here."

Billy dropped what he was looking at and walked over to Ellie, Teagan right behind him. 

"Why, what do you think is in there?" Teagan asked. 

"Explosives."

"Oh, well of course." 

"We'll need them to take out the dock. And most of the other stuff." 

Billy began circling the room looking for something to break the lock with. Coming up empty handed he turned to tell as much to Ellie and Teagan, but Teagan was hunched over the lock, busily picking it. Before Billy could make his way back to the door Teagan had it open. "How did you know how to do that?"

"Just a little skill I picked up." 

Ellie shined her flashlight into the room. "Bingo." Two walls were lined with boxes labeled 'danger! explosives'. The third wall held burlap sacks and various detonating wires. Ellie grabbed a burlap sack and headed to the nearest box. Using a crowbar conveniently left behind she pried the box open and let the lid fall to the floor. 

The contents were packed in sawdust and straw and she hastily brushed it aside. Her box was full of sticks of dynamite. Without much concern for safety she grabbed the sticks with one hand and shoved them in the bag in her other hand. When the box was empty, her bag was full. She set it on the ground and tied it shut. Then moved across the room to get another bag. Down on a shelf below the detonating wire she noticed a stack of belts. She bent down and picked one up. "Teagan, Billy," she said, tossing each a belt. "Find the box that has the babies we clip onto these." 

Teagan and Billy each tied a strap down across their shoulder and in turn opened a box of their own. Billy struck home with a box of carefully packed grenades. Using extreme care he clipped them into place on his belt, then moved aside so Teagan could do the same. Ellie came over to fill a strap of her own. "These are going to be extremely handy. We should get a strap for Ryan and Grant as well."

Taking her cue Teagan got two more belts and filled them, carefully placing each strap in a bag with the rest of the grenades from the box. "What else do we need?"

"Lets get one more bag of dynamite and some of that wire." Teagan tossed a bag to Ellie and filled another bag with wire. When the bags were tied up and stacked by the door they began inspecting the weapons. 

"Is this what I think it is?" Billy asked, hoisting a large bulky weapon off a top shelf. 

"Flamethrower," Ellie replied, looking at it briefly than returning to her search. 

"Now that's what I'm talking about."

"Half these weapons probably aren't even legal. I mean, is that a bazooka?" Teagan asked.

"I'm sure they aren't legal. Hammond doesn't have much sense for the legality of things. He just does what he wants. Although this shed was probably pushed by others working on the project. Hammond never would have seen the necessity of such a drastic back up measure." Ellie grabbed two heavy duty automatics, recognizing them as the type Muldoon had used. She handed two more to Teagan. "These will be good for anything raptor size or smaller." 

Remembering that they still had to carry the bags of explosives Ellie turned back to the door. "I think we're good to go." 

Billy set the flamethrower back up on the shelf and grabbed two of the bags leaving Ellie and Teagan one bag each. Armed and ready they left the weapons shed behind the moved back onto the path. 

Grant walked over to the window and lowered himself so he could look out. He didn't see anything. "What?"

"Just watch." Ryan put the water bottle back on the table and leaned forward on his elbows. "There, on the trail at the first bend. Raptors."

Grant would have missed it if he blinked. A raptor's head bobbed onto the trail and then disappeared once again into the foliage. "The others are going to have to come back down that trail." 

"We gotta do something." Ryan stood up and lifted the gun Grant had given him earlier. Checking to make sure he had extra ammo in his pockets and walked to the trailer door. 

"No wait. I have a better idea." Grant lifted his gun off the counter and walked to the rear of the trailer. He opened one of the tiny closet doors in the back and disappeared inside. "Come on." 

Ryan joined Grant at the back and saw that inside the closet was a ladder leading up. Grant had climbed to the top and sounded as if he was disengaging locks. Moments later rain began to pour in through the top of the closet and Grant continued to climb up. Ryan was right behind him and ten rungs later stood on top of the trailer. He left the hatch open in case they needed to get back inside quickly. 

"Once we get them over here we need to shoot. I'm placing no bets on how high they can jump." Grant walked to the edge of the trailer and looked out to where the raptors had last been. Then he began to make noises that sounded like a sick and dying animal; easy prey. The reaction was immediate. Four heads bobbed into view, focused on the trailer. 

Years of ruling the island had stolen their caution and the raptors emerged onto the trail, running toward their expected meal. As soon as they were in view Grant and Ryan lifted their guns and set their sights. In unplanned unison they each fired a shot, but only one raptor went down. 

Undaunted the other three raptors continued forward. Ryan set up again and pulled the trigger before he had truly aimed. Miraculously he still managed to find his mark and another raptor went down. The first raptor to go down had managed to struggle to its feet and was once again moving to the trailer. Grant shot it again, taking it down for good. 

In the time it had taken Ryan and Grant to get off four shots the two unharmed raptors had made it to the edge of the trailer. Realizing that their prey was on top of it they began trying to jump. They managed to get their heads up over the top, but Grant didn't think they would ever manage to jump high enough to land. Keeping his gun raised he tried to time when he thought one of the faces would appear again, there was no way he was going to lean over the side to shoot down. 

With a snarl and a hiss a raptor from the neck up appeared three feet in front of Ryan. Startled, Ryan let off a shot but missed. The raptor disappeared again. Aiming where the raptor had just been Ryan waited. Five seconds later the raptor reappeared. 

It seemed to be frozen in the air and time seemed to slow as Ryan's finger tightened around the trigger. But before he could squeeze off a shot a searing pain shot through his shin. He jolted back, dropping the gun and the raptor dropped out of sight. 

"What - oh God - what did it do?!" Ryan looked down at his leg. His whole shin was covered in a dark tar-like substance. He didn't want to touch it, but instinct told him to wipe the black goop off. He bent down. 

"No, don't touch it. Just get back inside." Grant waited to get off one more shot but the raptor's didn't make another jump. Pausing to listen he didn't hear anything and crept to the side of the roof. He peered down but the raptors were gone. Lost to them in the woods. 

Grant picked Ryan's weapon up off the roof and made his way down the ladder back into the trailer. 

The Rex was still down. But not wanting to let their guard down for a second, Teagan, Billy and Ellie walked with their weapons ready. The Rex's breathing was shallow and Teagan wondered how much more sedative it would take for the Rex to slip into a coma and die. 

"We have to kill it," Ellie said, rounding the Rex to face its belly.

"What?" Teagan asked, jarred from her thoughts. 

"Its right here. We have to kill it. You could just shoot it a couple more times with the dart gun and it'll overdose on sedative and die. It'll never even wake up." 

"How many more darts do you think that would take?" Teagan hoped Ellie would have an answer, cause she didn't know well enough to be sure. 

"I would say three would do it, we can do four to be sure." 

"Ok." Teagan walked over to Ellie who stood by the Rex's chest. She pinpointed about where the heart would be and aimed. Trying to ignore the fact that she was killing the most magnificent creature she had ever seen, Teagan fired two consecutive shots. There was no reaction at all, from the humans or the Rex. Teagan lowered her gun and walked away, Ellie trailing behind. 

Billy stood at the end of the path that headed back to the trailer. "How many other Rex's are on the island?" 

"None. Hammond only kept one here," Ellie said as she caught up to him. "So now there aren't any. Which is good. That would have been the first thing Hammond would have told the next team to load up and bring back to the mainland." 

"Even after what already happened over there?"

"Like Alan said, Hammond thinks he learned from his mistakes. He would take care to have the boat more secure this time. Still a huge mistake though, no matter what precautions he took." 

As they walked the trailer came into view. The three picked up their pace, eager to be back inside, safe. Behind them they heard a low snorting sound. Teagan whirled around, raising her gun as she did so. Two raptors were sniffing around the Rex's body. A third stood off to the side, clearly favoring one foot. 

Teagan nudged Billy and Ellie off to the side of the path and pointed behind them. They edged their pace up another notch and prayed the raptors would stay occupied with the Rex. Of course, there were probably others stationed in the woods. The thought kept Billy from stopping and shooting the three raptors while they were distracted. 

Luckily enough no trouble came and they made it to the trailer door. They walked in and set all their newly acquired gear on the floor in the kitchen. A low moan traveled up from the rear of the trailer. The group shot each other worried looks and headed back. 

Ryan was sprawled across the back bench, eyes squeezed shut while tears poured down his cheeks. In his right hand he clutched a glass of water and in his left a paper towel. 

Grant was bent over Ryan's right leg, gently wiping away at something. The floor around Grant was covered in paper towels smeared with black tar. 

"What happened?" Teagan asked, kneeling down by Ryan's side. She took the glass from his hand and put it on the floor, clutching his hand with her own. 

"Raptor attack," Grant answered, not looking up from his work.

"What is the black stuff?"

"Dilophosaurus venom." 

"I thought you said it was a - Oh. Those raptors out there are mutated."

Grant leaned back to get another paper towel. "Go get me some water. And bandages. Just get the rest of the first aid stuff." Billy went to get the supplies. Teagan leaned forward to see what damage had been done. 

Grant had gotten all but a few spots of the venom off of Ryan's leg. His shin now lay exposed and it was badly blistered. Everywhere the venom had touched was now red, and bleeding. "How did that happen?" As Teagan voiced her wonder Billy returned with the water and other supplies. 

Grant used the water to get the remaining venom off and cleanse the rest of the area. Ryan continued to squeeze Teagan's hand with bone breaking force. Once all traces of venom were gone Grant took a gel out of the first aid kit that was used on all sorts of burns. He lightly smeared it over Ryan's leg, forcing a hiss of pain from Ryan. Without comment Grant wrapped the shin with a bandage and fastened the end. 

"Why did it burn like that?" Teagan asked, handing the water back to Ryan.

"It was an acid burn." Grant put the first aid supplies away and threw the paper towels into a garbage can next to him. 

"I didn't think dilophosaurus venom was acidic."

Grant turned to face Teagan. "It wasn't." He got up and dumped the bowl of water into the kitchen sink. "But it is now."

"Is he going to be ok?" 

"Yeah. I would say the venom is still low in acidic content. It's a burn alright, but nothing too serious. He should still be able to put weight on his leg. Just let him rest." 

Teagan patted her cousin's shoulder and walked back out into the kitchen. Billy was looking out the windows trying to see the raptors but they had already disappeared out of view. The Rex still lay by the maintenance shed. "Did you guys get the weapons," he said, sitting down at the table. 

"Yeah and extra ammo. It's all in the back. What did you manage to get?" Grant asked, motioning to the bags. 

"Explosives, flame thrower, automatics, grenades. We're gonna need it. We took down the Rex. Shot it full of sedative, should be plenty to kill it." Ellie stacked the guns they had retrieved by the front door and shoved the bags so they were out of the way. 

"Good. That means we have no Rex to worry about." 

"Yeah, just everything else on this island."

"So we head out tomorrow morning. What's the plan." Teagan looked at the clock, it was nearly eight o'clock. Her stomach rumbled as if it too had just realized the time. As she listened to Grant she searched the kitchen for some sort of supper.

"We're going to take the jeeps and follow the automated track. It'll swing us by every paddock on the park. We shoot what we see, staying inside the jeep. That'll be our job tomorrow. Assuming that goes well, the next day we'll go in and start taking out nests." 

"Sounds like fun. Who's hungry?" Teagan pulled out the fixings for sandwiches and spread them out on the counter. No one said anything else as they dug in. 

Twenty minutes later everyone was full and as content as one could be while on an island of killer dinosaurs. Since Teagan had set up, Billy put all the food away and tossed the paper plates and plastic utensils into the trash. 

Ryan had fallen asleep immediately after finishing the sandwich Teagan had brought him. Teagan and Billy followed suit, crawling into the bunks that lined the narrow hallway. Ellie and Grant stayed up a little longer, talking about the plan for the next day. It wasn't long until exhaustion captured them as well. 

Billy woke up covered in sweat. He couldn't remember anything he had been dreaming, but judging by the disarray of the covers he had been trying to run from something. He could imagine the rabid, mutated, Tyrannosaur that must have occupied his dreams. Unable to swallow he jumped out of his bunk and headed for the kitchen. In the kitchen he opened the fridge, got out a jug of water, and poured himself half a glass. Then he sat at the kitchen table to slow his heart rate. 

His mind wandered to the task at hand. He wasn't too worried about the coming day's mission. It seemed simple enough, they never even had to get out of the jeeps. It would be like when he used to play duck hunt on Nintendo, all he had to do was aim and shoot. He put his glass of unfinished water on the table. It would be when they had to get out of the jeeps and venture into the paddocks to destroy any nests that he might lose himself with fright. With every ounce of his being he kept a shiver from running up his spine. 

When he stood up to bring the cup to the counter the trailer shook. He had his hand halfway to the glass, and the water inside vibrated out three consecutive rings. Now, sure that he must still be dreaming, Billy grabbed the glass and chugged the rest of the water. Half way to the sink, an earth vibrating boom sounded again. Billy ran back to the window and peered out. Between the absolute darkness and the rain he couldn't see anything. 

Forgetting about the glass Billy ran to wake Grant. 

"What?" Grant muttered, sleepily rolling over to face Billy. 

"There's something out there. Another Rex or something." Grant was awake immediately. He jumped out of the bunk and shouted for Ellie. Instead of waiting for her to get up he ran to the front of the trailer. His shouts also woke up Teagan. Minutes later the four of them huddled around the kitchen window, straining to see some sign of motion. In the time it had taken them to converge four more booms had rattled the trailer. Each one slightly stronger than the last. 

"I thought you said there was only one Rex," Teagan said, keeping her eyes glued to the window.  
"There was." 

"Than what is that, we killed the other one."

"Maybe we didn't."

"Four shots of sedative, designed to put down an elephant. It should have died." 

"Should have, doesn't mean it did." 

"Maybe its something else," Billy mentioned. 

"How are we ever going to know what it is if we can't see anything?" Teagan asked, backing away from the window.

"We'll just have to wait until morning, and then go have a look around. A quick look around." Grant stood up and started back toward his bunk. "Lets face it, we're never going to see what it is now." 

"What if it decides to come attack the trailer?"

"There's nothing we can do to keep it from doing that, other than sitting tight, not drawing attention to ourselves. Most likely it won't even notice the trailer."

Teagan and Billy sat at the kitchen table, more than a little worried about what was making the noise. "He's right guys, we won't be able to determine anything until the morning. In the meantime we need the sleep." Ellie followed Grant back to the bunks. 

After one last desperate look outside Teagan stood up and stretched. "Those bunks are just way to small to qualify as comfortable." Agreeing Billy stood up and headed back down the hall. "Better sleeping place than the inside of something's gut." 

"Fair enough." Teagan and Billy settled back into their bunks and tried to sleep. At least two more shudders ran through the trailer before they had entered the darkness of sleep. 

The next morning came with no further interruptions. Ryan was up before anyone else, not having been interrupted by the rumbles throughout the night. When Teagan woke up he was sitting at the table eating a banana. She quickly filled him in on the late night happenings. When she was done she got herself an orange and sat back down at the table. When the orange was gone she grabbed her duffle bag out from under her bunk and headed to the back to change. She passed Billy on the way, already changed and ready to go. 

A couple minutes later she emerged back into the kitchen refreshed and eager to go outside to solve the mystery of the boom. Grant and Ellie were leaning against the counter eating a breakfast of fruit. In turn they each went to the back to clean up. Ellie took a minute to re-bandage Ryan's leg. "How does it feel to stand on it.?"

"Not too bad. It stings a little. But I can manage." 

"Well we'll be staying in the jeeps today. So you should be alright. You should probably stay in here while we check around outside." 

"Are you sure."

"Yeah, there's no telling what we're going to come up against and you need a little more time before you fully put your leg to the test." 

"Alright." Ryan threw his banana peel away and went to the back to change. While he was gone Billy, Teagan, Ellie and Grant loaded up on weapons. When each was suited up they yelled to Ryan that they would be right back and went outside. The rain had finally let up to a light drizzle. 

"All we're going to do is look for evidence of whatever was out here last night. No heroics. We get back inside as soon as we can." Grant took the lead and headed toward the raptor pen. Billy kept an eye on the left side of the path, Teagan an eye on the right. Ellie kept track of what was going on behind them. 

When Grant reached the raptor pen he stopped. "Well there's our tracks." Several large Tyrannosaur tracks led of into the woods. 

"The stupid thing didn't die. For crying out loud, we're standing right where it fell." Teagan walked over to a track and stood inside. Mud oozed up around her boots. 

"Ok well, lets check dart gun off the destruction weapons list. Its good in a tight spot, we'll keep it around. But it won't kill a Rex and we won't chance it with anything else." Grant turned to walk back to the trailer. Teagan hopped out of the imprint and followed. When they got back to the trailer Ryan was dressed and watching out the window. 

"I see the rain let up," Ryan said as the others came in the trailer and unloaded their gear. 

"Yeah. That ought to make our job easier. Speaking of which, we should probably get going on that." Grant grabbed a duffle bag out of a closet and went to the fridge. He pulled several bottles of water out and tossed them into the bag. Then he turned to the rest of the group. "Teagan why don't you go pack up first aid gear. A little of everything. Billy grab extra ammo from the weapon's closet. Ellie, start thinking about how to distribute weapons." Grant moved on from the fridge to a cabinet and pulled down some bags of food. 

Teagan and Billy moved off to the back. Each had a bag in hand. Teagan grabbed a roll of bandage, several tubes of various ointments and creams, and anything else in the closet that looked like it could, in any given situation, be needed. Billy loaded the bag full of ammunition then grabbed the guns out of the closet that the ammo went to. Back up front Ellie had the weapons that they had already acquired spread out on the floor. 

"There were three more automatics in the back closets," Billy said, setting them down. 

"Good, that means everyone will have one." Ellie asked for the bag of ammo. Then laid an extra box next to each weapon. "Get another bag and split the rest of the ammo between the two. We'll keep a bag in each jeep. If there was any more ammo in the closet go get it and put it in the bags." Billy did as he was told. 

Teagan offered to help pack the jeeps. Grant had filled another bag with food and water and handed them both to Teagan. With an automatic slung over her should she left the trailer. The jeeps were parked only feet from the trailer door but Teagan remained on high alert. She threw the bags of food into the trunk in the back of the jeep. Then she jogged back to the trailer. Ellie handed her the two bags of ammo and the two bags she had split the first aid gear into from the door and Teagan stored one in the front seat of each jeep. 

Once she was back inside Grant began to hand out more directions. He, Ryan and Billy would be in the lead jeep with Ellie and Teagan following behind. Everyone was to drive with the windows up until they were prepared to shoot, then they would roll down the window and aim; but no one was to ever open a door. The automatics would be used and each person was to have at least one box of ammo on their person. A heavier weapon would be stored in the trunk of each jeep for emergency use only. The explosives were staying in the trailer for a later use. They would make one sweep of the park that morning, and another later in the afternoon. Depending on their success, they would move on to the second part of the plan the next day. 

With a sudden thought Billy grabbed one of the bags they had brought back from the maintenance shed. He pulled it open and took out two walkie-talkies. Grant told Billy to hold on to one and to give the other one to Teagan. 

When everyone clearly understood what was about to happen they headed toward the door, picking up a weapon and the box of ammo as they headed out. Grant and Ellie picked up the heavy artillery in addition. They piled into their respective jeeps with Ellie and Grant driving. The windshield wipers were flicked on, but headlights remained off. Grant pulled over the metal track and onto the trail that lead into the park. 

Excited about where they were headed but nervous at the same time all the kids looked expectantly out their windows. When they reached the Jurassic Park gate Grant stopped. There was nothing blocking them for the gates hung open like a mouth ready to devour. Grant simply needed a moment to brace himself for what lie ahead. Now they were actually headed into the heart of Jurassic Park. 

Once Grant had regained composure he rested his foot on the accelerator and continued forward. In his mind he tried to remember the layout of the park. Trying to remember in what order the road passed the dinosaurs' paddocks. 

"So this is Jurassic Park. This is Hammond's multimillion dollar project." Billy looked through each window and the sunroof in turn, trying to take in every inch of his surroundings. 

"This is it. Grand idea, grand flop." Grant was still trying to organize the order of the paddocks. "The first few paddocks have mild tempered dinosaurs in them, not any that will be overly dangerous to us."

"You know what I'm not going to be able to do," Billy stopped, shaking his head. "How am I going to be able to look at a Triceratops for the first time and then shoot it dead. When it didn't do anything to me, and when if given the chance to try it would probably just stand there like a cow." 

"No one said this would be easy. But it has to be done."

"Couldn't we just kill the carnivorous dinosaurs, and leave the harmless ones? So what if they made it back to the mainland. They put lions and bears in zoos and humans have been killed by those," Ryan suggested from the back seat. For the time being he had his leg extended across the seat, with his weapon resting across his lap. 

"In all honesty I can't give you a good reason why we can't do that. I suppose from a scientist's point of view I would have to say look at the unstable situation we would create. There would be animals here with no enemies, nothing preying on it. They would completely overpopulate the island, most likely permanently damaging the island. It would create another huge mess on Isla Nublar." 

"I see your point. But Billy's right, it's going to be hard." 

Back in the other car, Teagan and Ellie weren't discussing the moral and ethical issues at hand, they were discussing why they had to be in the follow-up car. 

"Do they not think we could handle being in the lead? I mean, you know just as much about this island as Grant does, and lets face it, I probably know as much as Billy and Ryan combined." 

"They're men. Enough said." Ellie stayed a constant 20 feet or so behind Grant's car. Not wanting to crowd it, but not wanting to much space to fall in-between. 

"I think in the 14 hours or so that we've been here we've proven ourselves to be more than adequate and capable." 

"That's for sure. Besides, the attack is just as likely to come from the rear as it is from the front. You know what it is, they want the action first." 

"Losers." 

"Jerks."

"So you think we might get some action from behind?"

"Most definitely." 

"Do you know what dino we'll probably see first?"

"The first thing we saw on the tour was the dilophosaurus. So probably those. And they're going to be the tricky ones, because as soon as they sense a threat having the windows rolled down won't be an option. We have to aim and shoot as fast as humanly possible." 

"Think Grant remembers that?"

"Hard to say. Why don't you radio them and send a friendly reminder." 

"Yo, Billy." 

"Yeah?" Teagan could see Billy turn around to face them. 

"Just wanted to make sure you guys knew that the dilophosaurs would be first on this hunting trip. Aiming and shooting at warp speed is a must." 

"Got that. We don't want any more acidic burns. We'll keep you posted on what we see." 

"Ditto." 

Teagan clipped the walkie-talkie back to her belt and turned in her seat to look behind them. Nothing back there. She faced the front and tested her window, seeing how fast it would roll up and down. It turned out to be about as fast as car windows ever got. With the window once again rolled up to the top she stopped fidgeting. 

After a few more empty minutes of driving a red and yellow sign came into view. It wasn't on the road, but behind a once-electrified fence, the sign announced in not so many words that the paddock they looked into held the dilophosaurus'. 

The prerecorded informational track that had run in the original trucks on the tour ran through Grant's head. It ended with _"making the dilophosaurus a beautiful but deadly addition to Jurassic Park." _Yeah, they sure had that right. 

Grant slowed to a crawl and placed his right hand on the window button. He thought he saw something about 20 feet out. He overshot it by 10 feet and then put the car into park. Ellie pulled up right behind him and did the same. Billy and Teagan covered the right side of the road from their windows, while Ellie, Grant, and Ryan covered the left side. 

Grant aimed at the spot where he had thought he'd seen something. Nothing moved, including Grant. He was about to ask Billy to get something for him when he heard a shot fired. Then gun wasn't loud, but it sparked the interest of the dinosaur he had seen. It raised its head above the grass and looked around. Grant, already set, rechecked his aim and pulled the trigger. The dino went down with a thud, returning the forest to its original stillness. 

After scanning the surrounding forest and seeing nothing Grant returned to his original request of Billy. "In the glove compartment there should be a small black box, with a lot of buttons on the front. Will you hand it to me." 

Billy fished around in the glove compartment for a minute and then placed the box in Grant's hand. "What does that do?"

Grant didn't answer but set to work examining the buttons on the box. When he found the one he wanted he pushed it in, then flipped the box over. After pushing another button and twisting a knob a loud hooting escaped the box. "That's what it does." 

Knowing the hoots would elicit an immediate response from any dinosaurs within hearing distance, Billy turned back towards his window. He took turns scanning with his eyes and then through the site mounted on the top of his weapon. He was rewarded with two dilophosuars side by side. Taking aim and thinking of nothing else he took them both down. Ryan, only seconds quicker than Grant took down another on the left side of the road. 

More hooting arose from the surrounding grass, but nothing came into view. The hooting stopped abruptly and was replaced by a high pitched hissing. "Roll your windows up now!" Grant tugged his weapon back in through the window and mashed on the up button. Billy and Ryan did the same. 

"Teagan, back in the car, roll the window up." Teagan set her weapon on the floor and looked at the armrest on the door, reaching for the window button. When her finger was on it she looked back up, out the window. No more than fifteen feet away stood a lone dilophosaur. His neck was surrounded by a brightly decorated frill that screamed poison. Now frantic Teagan pushed on the button as hard as she could, but of course the window could go no faster. 

The dilophosaur leaned back and then launched forward with one step. Black tar went flying and covered the fifteen feet with ease. Teagan jerked back and acting on instinct covered her head with her arms. The expected pain didn't come and she reached for the window button again. Looking over she saw that the back right window was covered with the sticky tar. The dilophosaur arched its neck back again, preparing for another attack. Ellie slammed the car into drive and gently rammed into Grant's car. 

Grant previously unaware of the mounting problem behind him started when the jeep rocked forward. Immediately knowing something was wrong he removed the car from park and drove forward yelling for Ryan to tell him what was happening. 

"There's a dilophosaur spitting at their jeep. Go, keep going forward." Grant did what he was told and didn't stop until he was beyond the edge of the dilophosaur fence. 

"Billy give me the radio." Without question Billy handed it over. 

Grant's voice crackled at Teagan's belt. She unclipped the radio and pushed the send button down asking for him to repeat. 

"Why didn't you tell me you needed to move? I had no idea what was going on." 

"Well I didn't exactly have time to say 'wait, let me get my radio and ask Dr. Grant if he would kindly pull forward'." 

"What happened?"

"I was going to roll my window up and a spitter came up. Hit the back window once and missed the second time cause we moved our butts outta there."

"Are you ok?"

"Frazzled and wishing the windows operated at an increased speed, but yeah ok." 

"How many did you guys hit?"

"Two. You?"

" Five."

"I'm going to say good enough for me cause there sure isn't going to be a second chance right now." 

"Agreed. Ready to move on?" 

"Ready and out." 

Teagan set the radio next to her on the seat and let out a rush of air. "That was a little close huh?" 

"Yeah, next time scream or something to alert me of any problems. You didn't make a sound. I was watching Grant's car and didn't realize there was a problem until I heard the tar hit the window."

"Sorry. Next time there is impending doom before me I'll yodel." 

"It would be appreciated." 

The parade of destruction continued on. The next pen held both hypsilophodonts and othnielias. Both were rather small dinosaurs with no capabilities of destruction. The crew simply sat in the jeep and picked them off as they came to the fence. 

To Teagan it was brutal and unfair. It seemed humanly typical to be sitting in a protected vehicle with weapons galore taking down small defenseless animals as they crept forward out of nothing more treacherous than curiosity. But she closed her moral eyes and continued to shoot. 

The small animals were so unintelligent and primitive that they watched their fellow dinosaurs fall dead, and still they continued walking up to get a look at the cars. Those that didn't come to the fence remained perched up in the trees, still easy targets. After ten minutes in front of the pen all activity stopped. Nothing moved beyond the road, no sounds floated in through the open windows. 

Teagan picked up her walkie-talkie. "Well I would say we got all of them. The stupid things just kept coming forward."

Billy answered. "Yeah. Grant figures they work in a pretty tight pack. They all would have been near the road." 

"Lets get out of here." 

Grant put his weapon down on the seat, safety on, and shifted into drive. He knew the next pen would hold a pair of triceratops. At least at last count there had been two. There could be more now. The triceratops had been his favorite animal as a kid, and when he had come here to survey the park he had been enthralled by the triceratops, sick as it had been. He didn't know how he was going to be able to shoot it when it was standing there defenseless and unsuspecting. 

As they rolled into view of the triceratops paddock lightning cracked across the sky. 

"Here we go again," Ryan mumbled from the back. 

"Does it ever not rain here?" Billy asked.

"It would seem not." Grant looked around the field but saw nothing. That was to be expected. 

"What's in here?" Ryan asked.

Grant paused. Then answered, "The triceratops." 

"I don't see anything. Do you?"

Without actually looking Grant shook his head. 

"Should we stop and look?"

"No." 

Ryan didn't argue. He continued to stare out into the field, sure that the triceratops was there somewhere. 

The rain slowly began to pick up power. By the time they reached the next pen it was an all out storm once again. 

"What was in this pen?" Teagan asked.

"The Rex was in it. But I don't really think he's in there."

"Me neither. I don't think we're gonna find the Rex on any of these trips. I don't think we're going to find the Rex at all."

"You don't?"

"No. I think that the Rex will find us." 

Up in the lead car Grant tried but could not suppress a shiver. 

"Fences that high, had to be the Rex." Billy had to look out of the sun roof in order to see the top of the fence. "But he's not there now." 

"Probably not. Lets just keep going. There's six or seven pens left. Then we'll rest before our next trip through."

"What's next?"

"Stegs. Easy stuff." 

"Ya know the easy stuff is the worst stuff. When its that easy, there's no way to mask the fact that its just murder and destruction." 

"What do you call it when its hard stuff?" 

"Self defense maybe. I'm not sure. You know those stupid human lines of distinction. We don't always draw the lines in the right places. So I'm just drawing my line between the hard stuff and easy stuff. Make sense?"

"We can't draw lines on this island. When you draw lines you subconsciously make a choice that some things are ok and some are not. And then of course you commit yourself to stay away from the things that are not ok. No matter what you think is ok or not ok here, you have to just do it. Shooting a dumb, half blind, defenseless herbivore may be on the not ok side of your line…but you had better do it anyway."

"I know that. Do you know that?"

"Excuse me?"

"With all due respect, I'm asking if you know that."

"I'm prepared to do what I have to do." 

"Good. Then so am I. I just wanted to make sure. Because if you can't do it, then I know I sure as hell can't."

"Ha, neither could I," Ryan added.

"Glad we're all on the same page here."

Billy shook his had a chuckled. "I sure wish I knew what book we were in." 

After a few more minutes of senseless conversation the jeeps rolled into view of the Stegosaurus paddock. This paddock was much like the tric paddock, a large rolling field. The road only stayed along the field for a hundred yards or so, then took a sharp turn to the right. Grant stopped the jeep in the middle of the stretch of road by the field.

"I think the stegs are off partying with the trics," Billy said. Ryan offered an appreciative laugh from the back. 

"Well I guess that makes us the party crashers," Grant commented, scanning across the field for a second time.

"Party crashers equipped with explosives and automatics; we sure would make the neighborhood cops welcome." Billy unclipped the walkie-talkie. "Should we let our accomplices know there's nothing to be shot here?"

"Sure. I think the road passes by the other end of this field, on the loop back to the visitor's center." 

Billy made the radio call and Grant pushed forward again. He rounded the corner slowly, eyes off the road and searching the woods for the stegs, hoping they'd be there so that he wouldn't have to delay the inevitable any longer. 

The woods proved to be as empty as the field had been. Grant turned his attention back to the road and jerked the wheel in response to a curve that had interrupted the road. If he hadn't looked up at that precise moment the jeep would have had a close and personal encounter with a tree. "Were either of you going to warn me that I might need to turn the car?"

"Actually, no. We were going to see how long you would ignore the fact that you're in control of a moving vehicle," Ryan said. 

"We would have informed you before you'd actually crashed."

"Don't you think maybe you cut it a bit close?"

"Nah. You were all skill with the stunt curve-avoidance. We had faith." 

"Are you having some road issues Dr. Grant?" Teagan's voice came through the radio with a burst of static.

"He's fine. Just enjoying the scenery a bit too much." 

Grant took his eyes off the road once more to glare at Billy. 

"Whoa, you should see the mastered look of death. I'm impr-" 

Grant slammed on the breaks and sent Billy forward. He partially slid off the seat and bounced his head off of the door frame. When he righted himself onto the seat he grabbed his head and brought his fingers down, red with a small smear of blood. "Damn!" The walkie-talkie had flown from his hands and cracked against the dashboard. It now lay on the floor, a crack spider webbed across the front. 

Once satisfied that his head wasn't bleeding profusely, Billy looked through the windshield to find the cause of the stop-on-a-dime action. His breath caught with what he saw. 

Two adult stegosaurs blocked the road, a younger one between them. There was no movement; the stegs had already moved into a defensive position in front of the baby and now they were waiting for an offensive move from the unknown enemy before them. 

Grant shifted into park and started to roll back the sunroof. "Get out your eraser and start erasing those lines Billy. You're going to have to take the shot."

"Me? Why me?"

"Because you can fit through the sunroof the best. I'm to big, Ryan sure can't do it. Just make sure you're aiming for the middle of the head." 

"Are you kidding me?!"

"You know better than that." 

"They're going to charge the second a shot is fired. Even if I actually hit one in the head, the other will still charge." 

"Don't be so sure. It's going to be confused, it'll take a second to be agitated." 

"Well how long does it take for agitation to turn into aggression?" 

"That all depends on how long you give it. Be accurate and be fast." Grant handed Billy the rifle and moved as close to his door as he could, trying to give Billy room to create a helpful shooting stance. 

"I need a couple more erasers and some white out here."

"Get rid of the line. Now." Grant pointed up to the sunroof. Billy shook his head and then set the rifle down so that he could move into a standing position. 

Teagan watched from the other car as Billy's head came through the open sunroof. He looked down to Grant and took the rifle. It took him a second to maneuver the large rifle through the small sunroof, but once he had that accomplished he quickly set up, bracing himself against the car roof. Teagan couldn't tell which steg he was aiming for so she just held her breath, praying that the enormous animals wouldn't charge. 

Billy held his breath and prayed that the enormous animals wouldn't charge before he could get off at least one shot. He took aim, putting all of his weight onto the roof of the car to prevent himself from shaking. When he was as sure as he was ever going to be that the shot would land between the eyes he pulled the trigger back. With the bang of the escaped bullet all of Billy's lines were erased. He let his breath out in a whoosh as the steg he had aimed for fell into a heap. 

The steg's mate let out a groan and shifted its weight, showing Grant's predicted agitation. The baby began to bellow, clearly upset by the state of affairs. Billy tried to block out the baby's wail of despair as he set up his next shot and took it. Once again he was successful with his shot. When he had the sights on the baby he froze. 

The baby walked over to the second fallen steg and sniffed it. It looked around and let out another wail. It was no longer in Billy's sights and he had to adjust. Once corrected he shut his eyes and waited just a moment. He hoped that in that moment the baby would move out of his sight, run away, get far away from the parade of destruction. Without opening his eyes to check his aim or the baby's position Billy pulled the trigger. After another sightless moment he opened his eyes. The baby lay on the ground, forever protected between the two guarding parents. 

Billy cursed under his breath and then dropped back into the jeep. He clicked the safety on and shoved the rifle onto the floor. 

"Nice shooting," Ryan commented. 

"Don't talk to me about my shooting. And don't you dare call it nice! A trained dolphin could have stood there with a rifle and picked off an unprotected, dumb, harmless beast. There was nothing nice about it!"

"Whoa chill out. All I meant was, well I mean…you had nice…aim." 

Billy spun around and leapt over the armrest between the front seats. He reached for Ryan's throat but with his front seat in the way he couldn't get the angle necessary for an attempted strangulation. Knowing he'd never get his hands around the kid's neck he began swinging. The second swing connected with Ryan's jaw and he let out a yelp of pain.

"How do you like my aim now?" Billy turned back around in his seat. Ryan rubbed his jaw, but made no comments to Billy. He knew that Billy hadn't really been angry at him or his remarks, he had just been deeply affected by having to kill three innocent creatures. Even though he was hurting, Ryan remained completely understanding. 

Grant said nothing as well for a few minutes. He didn't look at Billy, or Ryan, but he could hear Billy breathing deeply in and out. After giving several minutes for everyone to become calm Grant spoke up. "I'm sorry you had to do that. I have nothing else to say about it, but we do need to move on." Grant got no response from either of the boys. 

Teagan and Ellie had been able to see the whole scene from their car. 

"That boy has a bit of a temper huh," Ellie commented. 

"Well Ryan was probably asking for it. No telling what he said. Besides, anyone would be a bit touchy after having to do that." Teagan motioned to the stegs as Ellie carefully steered around them. 

"All too true." 

"Do you know what's in the next pen?"

"No. When we took the tour we only got as far as the Rex. Then we had to turn around. I never took the time to find out what was after that. Grant might know." 

Teagan tried to radio to the car ahead but all she got in reply was static. "Why won't they answer?"

"Good question. Guess the next pen will just be a surprise."

"Wonderful." 

In the lead car a burst of static suddenly shattered the silence. Billy jerked in surprise then reached down at his feet for the walkie-talkie. He pushed the talk button and said hello. He could faintly hear Teagan's voice, but couldn't understand anything she was saying. "Teagan? Hello?" More static pounded out Teagan's voice. 

"I guess this walkie-talkie is done for. Must have hit the dash pretty hard." Billy tossed the walkie-talkie under his seat. 

"Listen, I'm sorry about earlier. I was being an ass." Ryan leaned forward as far as he could without disturbing his leg. 

"Don't worry about it. Lets just never mention a single happening of the last half hour again, ok." 

"Works for me." Ryan extended his hand forward and Billy shook it, sealing the deal of selective amnesia. 

Grant kept his eyes on the road, afraid that next time the boys would wait a fraction of second too long to comment if he was about to go off the road. He inwardly smiled at the quick resolution that the boys had reached. 

For the life of him he couldn't remember what was held in the next paddock. He ran down what they had already seen, or not seen as the case might have been: dilophosaurus, hypsilophodonts and othnielias, the Rex, triceratops, and the stegosaurs. Parasaurolophus. That's what was next.   
Minutes later a large lake came into view, and around the lake stood a herd of eight paras, the six foot crest that decorated it's head gave the species away immediately. Several of the fifteen foot creatures stood in the water, while the rest stood guard on the shore. As the cars approached the paras, nearly as one, shifted from a four footed stance, to a two footed one. Their tails shifted along with their body to give them maximum balance while in the human-like posture. 

Grant slowed the car to a crawl, not wanting to frighten the animals away. He could see through the trees that the road would curve and cut closer to the lake a couple hundred yards ahead. Even though they were relatively far away, and even though the paras might not have been able to see exactly what was approaching, they knew something was coming. A trumpet echoed across the lake, followed by two others. The paras that had been in the water emerged onto the shore and the group moved in to a tight circle. 

Some parasaurolophus' were bigger than others, indicating difference in age, but none seemed to be juveniles. They had all at least moved into adulthood. The trumpeting continued, and with each chorus emitted it grew louder. 

Grant and Ellie had reached the point where the road was closest to the lake so they pulled the cars off the road and parked. This time Billy didn't have to be told. He reloaded the rifle and stood up through the sunroof, turning left to face the lake. Ryan had reloaded for himself and Grant, and he passed one of the rifles forward to him. Grant took aim out of his window, while Ryan carefully shifted so that he could shoot out of the left hand window.

Ellie took the rifle from Teagan and rolled down her window, while Teagan rolled back the sunroof. When the sunroof was all the way back she stood up, and set the rifle on the roof. She closed her eyes and listened to the trumpeting. Although it was a haunting and almost threatening sound, she thought it was beautiful. She didn't think there was another creature in the world that could match the song that she was listening too. 'Maybe whales,' she thought. She had briefly become lost in another world, but was abruptly brought back when a shot rang out. 

She opened her eyes and saw that the tight circle had scattered. The paras ran out a little ways, and their trumpeting turned into disconcerted bellowing. Teagan picked the rifle up off the roof and took aim. She and Billy shot at the same time, but only one para went down. This time instead of scattering, the paras moved back into their circle. Three more shots rang out, and two more paras fell. Five remained. Five paras, five shooters. But Teagan had had enough. 

She turned on the safety and tossed the rifle in through the sunroof, then she lowered herself back down. She did so quietly, so Ellie didn't even notice. Another shot rang out, chased by two more. Teagan no longer had a clear view of that para scene, but she was only glad for that. After two more shots Ellie maneuvered her rifle back inside and handed it to Teagan. 

"We're done." 

Teagan just nodded and placed Ellie's rifle on the floor. 

Grant rolled back onto the main trail and glanced behind him to be sure that Ellie was following. They appeared to be rolling their windows back up, but when everything was secure Ellie fell in line behind Grant. 

Around the next bend their next obstacle kept them from going any further. The trail had narrowed considerably in order to cross over a tiny bridge, and on the other side of the bridge a large wooden sign had fallen across the trail. Grant stopped the jeep in the middle of the bridge. 

"What's the problem?" Ryan asked.

"I think one of those signs that says what type of dinosaur is in the paddock fell over." Grant parked and rolled back the sunroof. "Billy can you take a look."

Billy climbed up onto his seat and rose out of the sunroof. "You're right. Its one of those signs. I can see where it fell from." 

"Can you read what kind of dinosaur is around here?" Grant asked. 

"It upside-down, hold on." Billy started with the letter on the far right and read to the left, mentally unscrambling the letters. "Pachycephalosaurus."

"Of all the dinosaurs." When Billy was seated in his seat again Grant asked him to try and radio the others again. As before, they were met with nothing but static. "Well back up through the sunroof you go. You'll have to shout to them, let them know what's up." 

"Why can't you just shout through the window?"

"Because if there's a pachy around here you'll be much safer with your head out the sunroof than I would be with my head out the side window." 

"Ok, point taken." Billy took up his now familiar perch through the sunroof and waved to the car behind them. He saw Teagan's hand go up to the sunroof button and a moment later she had climbed up and had her head out. 

"What's going on?" She yelled. 

"A sign fell across the trail up here. The trails so narrow that the jeep can't get around it." 

"So what are we going to do?" 

"I think that's what I'm supposed to be asking you!" 

Teagan ducked her head back into the car and relayed Billy's message to Ellie. She spoke with Ellie for a minute then rose her head up again. 

"She suggests we move it." 

While Teagan and Ellie had been talking, Grant, Billy and Ryan had been trying to come up with a solution as well. "Well, that appears to be our only option. The only thing is we're in pachy territory." 

"You've got to be kidding." Teagan rolled her eyes, then looked down to Ellie. "Pachys," she grumbled. She looked back to Billy, "Any other ideas?"

"Nope. So then I guess I'm taking volunteers to help move the sign." 

"I'll help." Teagan slipped back into the car. "We have to move the sign. So I'm going to go help." 

"Take a weapon." 

"It'll just slow me down. It'll be hard to carry anything if I have a gun slung over my shoulder, where it won't do me any good anyway." Teagan opened her door before Ellie could get another word in. 

Billy was already out and standing beside the jeep. Teagan jogged up to him. "So are the two of us going to be able to lift this alone?" she asked. 

"We'll find out. But lets just do it fast." Billy had also opted not to carry a weapon. 

The two walked around to the front of Grant's jeep and nervously looked around. Billy motioned to the sign and Teagan nodded. Trying to be invisible and quiet they walked across the rest of the bridge and moved towards opposite sides of the large wooden sign. Billy could now clearly see the word Pachycephalosaurus and the picture that was drawn above it. Like all of the other dinosaur pictures on the signs it was a skeletal rendition of pachy. The picture only enforced the fact that a pachy's skull was eight inches of bone, pure crushing power. Teagan only glanced at it for a second and then bent down to pick up her side of the sign. 

Grunting with effort they managed to lift the sign off of the ground, but after only covering five feet they had to put it down again and breath. "We should be able to get it the rest of the way off the trail on the next shot," Teagan figured. 

"We'd better. I'm feeling less safe every second out here." 

"Now why's that? Because we're in the territory of a dinosaur that could crush you to pieces just because you happen to be standing where it wants to run? Because in a charging match against an elephant, the elephant would leave with a bloody nose. Because-" 

"Elephants don't have noses, they're trunks." 

"Well yeah, but nobody says bloody trunk. You ready for this?"

"Yeah, lets go." They bent down and picked up the sign again. They managed to make it seven feet this time, and it was off the trail. 

"Oh, we're good." Teagan gave Billy a high five and turned back towards the jeeps. Billy fell in step behind her. Considering how she had been hit with a wave a depression back at the para paddock, she now had a bounce in her step. She was about to turn and crack another joke to Billy when she was tackled to the ground. She landed on her hands and knees but was immediately flattened to the ground by Billy. She turned her head just in time to avoid a mouth full of dirt, and instead her cheek was ground into the mud. "What the hell!"

"Roll!" Billy grabbed her around the waist and pulled her with him. She rolled over him and then once again landed in the mud. This time it splashed up into her eyes and mouth and she frantically spit it out. She raised her hands to wipe the mud away from her eyes, but they were too dirty to be of any help. She used her upper arm, which had somehow remained clean, to wipe as much mud away as she could. Then she pushed Billy off and rose to her knees. 

A trail of footprints ran past where Billy had originally knocked her to the ground. She quickly followed them towards the jeep and looked up just in time to see the first of two pachys ram into the grill. The second one knocked out a headlight. "Grant!" 

Teagan pushed herself to her feet, even though she knew there was nothing she could do. 

"Get down Teagan!" Billy grabbed her foot and yanked it back towards him. Unstable in the mud she crashed back down to the ground. He continued to pull on her foot until she gave up and slide away from the jeep. When she no longer felt him tugging she whirled around to face him. "We've got to help them!" 

"What do you think we can do? We have no weapons!" Teagan slammed her hand into the ground and crawled after Billy the rest of the way off the trail. 

Grant had not even had a millisecond to react. He had been watching Teagan and Billy walk back towards the jeep, wishing that they would walk a bit faster, and then Billy had shoved Teagan to the ground. It seemed like it had been the very next second that a pachy had appeared and crashed into the front of the jeep. 

After the pachys had completed their first collision they backed up for another. One circled to the left side of the car and one to the right. Ryan moved himself into the middle of the back seat, ignoring the bolt of pain that ran up his leg from the sudden movement. He didn't know what to do against the attacks, so he sat and did nothing. Grant did much of the same. 

The pachy on the left lowered its head and rose its tail in a fluid motion. The two created a perfect balance, even while the pachy was hurtling forward towards its target. It hit the jeep's back door and caved it in. Without taking a second to recover it backed up a few feet and rammed it again, this time shattering the glass in. The pachy on the right decided that the side doors were not a suitable target and had moved around to the back. 

Ellie had not realized that anyone was under attack until the pachys had moved around to the side. She didn't want to draw attention to herself, but under the current circumstances, she was the only one that could do anything to help. She grabbed her rifle off the floor with her right hand while she rolled back the sunroof with her left. When the window was open enough for her to squeeze through she stood up and pulled the rifle through after her. She glanced around for Teagan and Billy but couldn't see them. No time to worry. 

Ellie knew that a shot to the pachy's head probably wouldn't do much to slow it down. Eight inches of bone was too much of a gamble. So while the pachy at the rear of Grant's jeep began to charge she aimed for its heart. She figured the best time to take her shot would be the few seconds the dinosaur stopped after an impact. She kept her aim as best as she could while it ran, and took a fraction of a second to check her aim after it collided. Then she fired off a shot. She had either missed, or the shot had not affected the dinosaur one bit. 

She pulled the trigger again without even bothering to aim, but nothing at all happened. "Damn it!" She yelled. She was out of ammo. She threw the rifle back in through the window and dropped in after it. She snatched the ammo bag off the floor and frantically began to reload.   
Billy and Teagan were off the trail, crawling back towards Ellie's jeep. After only going five yards or so they hit the stream that the bridge ran across. Billy grabbed Teagan's hand and helped her up. They half ran half slide down the bank and into the stream. Billy started to make his way across, still holding Teagan's hand and pulling her along behind him. He took another step and her hand was yanked away. 

"Teagan!" He spun around, reaching for her even though he wasn't sure what had happened. He found her on her hands and knees in the water. "What's the matter?" 

"My boot is stuck. In the mud." She turned around and sat down, then reached down and pulled on her ankle. "Its not even coming lose." 

Billy splashed over to her and fell down to his knees. He shoved his hands down into the water and grabbed her ankle. He pulled as hard as he could but it only budged a little bit. He worked his hands down around the top of her boot and pulled. Again, nothing moved. "Just take your boot off." 

"I can't, they're tied too tight." Teagan continued to pull away, using her whole body, but she just wasn't going anywhere. She grit her teeth and got into a crouch, then with all her might she threw herself backwards. The only thing she succeeded in doing was landing herself back in the water and mud. "I am so stuck!"

Billy worked to try and dig her boot out of the mud. But every time he scooped a handful away, anther handful took its place. He stopped for a moment to wipe some water out of his eyes and when he could see again he glanced at the opposite bank. A pachy stood there, just watching the wild scene play out before it. "Teagan come on!" 

Billy grabbed her under her arms and pulled, while she worked pushing herself with her other foot. The pachy didn't attack but continued to watch. Teagan's boot was finally released from the death grip of mud and she and Billy went flying backwards into the water. They both went under and came up sputtering and choking. Not wanting to get stuck again, Teagan remained on her hands and knees. She hadn't seen the pachy and started crawling towards the bank. 

"Teagan, no! Not that way." Billy screamed. She turned around to look at him. 

She was forming the question why in her mind and seconds from voicing it, but she sensed a presence behind her. Without thinking she threw herself to the left, back into the water. Once again she came up choking and sputtering, before she had fully recovered Billy had her on her feet and running. They splashed under the bridge and looked for someplace to hide, because they would never outrun the pachy. 

"Was there one? Was there one behind me?!" Teagan yelled, sobbing. 

"Yeah, yeah there was, you're ok. It missed you, you're ok." Billy turned in a circle looking for shelter. On the opposite wall of the bridge there was a door. "No way, come on Teagan." 

Not even bothering to check for the whereabouts of the pachy he splashed over to the door. He held his breath and turned the knob. The door swung in and he gently shoved Teagan through. He followed her and slammed the door shut behind him, enclosing them in darkness. Seconds later there was a deafening crash at the door and a spot nearly five feet off the floor caved in under the pachy's charging force. 

Teagan backpedaled further away from the door as the pachy hit it again. "Is it going to be able to take the door down?"

"I doubt it. Lets just hope that Ellie or someone figures out we're down here soon." Billy stood beside Teagan and kept his eyes on the door. A minute or so of silence came and Billy thought that maybe the dinosaur had moved on. As he considered moving to the door two simultaneous crashes echoed through the dark room and two dents appeared in the door, side by side. "The stupid thing got reinforcements." 

"Maybe there's a tunnel or another door. Some other way out of here." 

"I don't know about you, but I can't see a thing." 

"Neither can I, but we can't just stand here." The pachys continued to beat at the door. "If they hit the door just right they'll break it down." 

Billy looked back towards the door and nodded. "Ok, lets see what we can do." The slowly moved around the room trying to find another way out. 

Ellie had successfully reloaded and taken down the pachy at the rear of Grant's jeep. The other pachy had disappeared. But not before nearly taking off the rear drivers-side door. It wouldn't have survived another collision. She picked the walkie-talkie up off the floor and radioed Grant.

"Do you see Teagan and Billy?" She asked. There was no answer. She stood up through the sun roof and shouted her question again. Grant didn't stand up but she could hear him yell back anyway. 

"No! I think they crawled off into the woods. Stay where you are I'm going to go find them." Ellie dropped back in through the sun roof and reached for her rifle. No way was she going to let Alan go out there alone. She looked around before opening her door and then jumped out. Grant was passing a rifle back to Ryan and saying something to him that Ellie couldn't catch. When he saw her coming toward him he started shaking his head. 

"No Ellie. Stay in your car." 

"Not a chance." 

"Are you sure?"

"Positive." 

"We're just going to have to go look for them. If we yell, we'll just attract the pachys back." 

"Yeah that's what I was thinking. Which way did they go?"

"Somewhere over here." Grant kept his rifle at his side, ready to be used. He walked around between the two jeeps and across to the bank of the river. Watching his every step, trying to be as quiet as possible he made his way down the bank. In the mud he could see both human tracks and pachy tracks. Even though the tracks weren't clear they obviously disappeared down into the river. Grant looked back and nodded for Ellie to follow him down to the water. 

Still moving slowly the two stepped into the water. Not wanting to get stuck in the middle where he would be an easy target, Grant tried to look across to the far bank. From what he could see there were no disturbances in the mud on the other side. He turned to look under the bridge but didn't see anything. He thought maybe Teagan and Billy had run under the bridge and climbed up a bank on the other side. Taking care not to splash too much he started walking under the bridge. Ellie kept right beside Grant. 

Grant was so focused on how he was walking, trying to see the river banks, that he didn't notice the door. Ellie did and she reached out for Grant's sleeve, gently tugging him back. The door had six or seven large dents, all at the same height. They both knew Teagan and Billy had been or still were on the other side of the door. 

Ellie shouldered her weapon and went over to the door while Grant stood by guarding them both. Ellie didn't want to scare the kids by suddenly opening the door or banging on it, so against her better judgment she called to them. She waited a couple of seconds and then called again. She was about to go ahead and open the door, but it was opened from the inside first. "Thank God." 

Teagan looked petrified. She was still dripping wet and covered in mud, and her eyes were twice as large as normal, filled with fear. Billy came up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. "Come on kid, lets go." 

Ellie stepped back and allowed Billy to lead her out, back into the river. Ellie took the lead and Grant fell in behind, watching their backs. The banks on the other side of the bridge were steeper and Ellie had to hand her weapon to Billy while she scrambled up. As soon as she was at the top Billy passed off the rifle and Ellie turned around to check her surroundings. It all looked good. 

Billy started up the bank and then turned around to help Teagan up. She grabbed his hand with her left hand and a tree root with the other and quickly pulled herself up. When Teagan had her footing Billy let go of her and reached for Grant's rifle. Grant handed it over and then set to work finding foot holds on the muddy bank. Billy told Teagan to go up the rest of the bank and wait with Ellie at the top. 

Grant had started up the bank but a loose bit of earth had slipped out from under him and he was now back at the bottom, trying again. Billy waited for him, ready to lend a hand. It was slow going for Grant and he was putting all of his concentration into watching his step. He didn't hear the splashing behind him, but luckily for him Billy saw it. Not wanting to frighten Grant into losing his footing Billy slowly took aim at the pachy coming up behind Grant. The pachy was no longer advancing, but studying Grant. 

Billy wanted to wait to shoot until Grant was as far up the bank as possible. As long as the pachy didn't move, Billy wasn't moving. Grant continued to make progress and was soon even with Billy. When he looked up at him he noticed he was aiming. He turned around and for the first time noticed the danger he had been in. "Good to know you got my back." 

"You know it."

Grant could offer no help but to move out of the way, so he quickly made his way up the rest of the bank. Billy checked his aim once more, wondering why the pachy still wasn't moving towards them. Then the time for wondering was passed and he took his shot. The pachy went wild. Billy had made a good shot, right between the arms. It might not have been enough to drop the pachy right to the ground, but it would certainly kill it, and in the meantime cause it immense pain. Billy pivoted on his foot to make his way up the bank, but the mud beneath his feet started to slide, and he went with it. 

He crashed down onto his stomach, knocking his head on a tree root in the process. Somewhat dazed and dizzy he frantically grabbed for the same tree root to stop his slide backwards. But where he reached, there was nothing. He could hear the pachy behind him splashing around and he figured the thing had enough energy to trample him to death if he was to fall into the water with it. 

Teagan watched Billy fall and immediately moved into action. Ellie grabbed at her but Teagan tore away. She got on her butt and slide down to a tree root that jutted out of the ground. Billy had managed to dig his foot into the mud enough to stop sliding, but he wasn't in a good enough position to start climbing back up. Teagan kept hold of the tree root and extended her arm as far as she could, but she was still too far away. She let herself slide down the bank a little more and yelled for Billy. He looked up and nearly lost his footing out of shock. "What are you doing?!"

"Saving your ass!" He reached up and grabbed her outstretched hand. With surprising strength she pulled him up while he pushed with his feet. Soon he was even with her and the two of them turned around and scrambled the rest of the way up the bank together. Below them the pachy was still thrashing around in the water and the water began to turn a dark red. 

As soon as they were beside Ellie and Grant Teagan felt like she weighed a thousand pounds. All she wanted to do was sit down, and without warning her knees gave out from under her. She fell to the ground on her knees and then leaned forward onto her hands. 

"We've got to get out of here. There's at least one more pachy around somewhere." Ellie said. "Come on Teagan, lets go." 

Teagan didn't move, and she made no response at all. "She's gone into shock or something. Billy grab her." 

Billy knelt down beside her. He moved a loose piece of hair out of her face. "Teagan?" She slowly raised her head and looked at him.

"Are you listening to me?" He spoke quietly and softly, almost a whisper. Teagan slowly nodded her head. "We're going back to the cars. Come on." He held his hand out to hers and she took it. He paused a second and then stood up, she came up right beside him and they began making their way to the jeeps. Ellie waited for Grant to retrieve his rifle from the mud. 

"Its not shock. Its something else," she said, motioning to Teagan. 

"How do you know?"

"I saw her eyes when she looked up at Billy. She was all there. She didn't have that vacant look. Probably coming down from an adrenaline rush."

"Well shock or not, I can't blame her actions. She nearly died, again. And then she watched Billy nearly die, again. But you're right. She's all there. She saved him and she knew what she was doing. But she, along with everyone else, needs a break."

"We're heading back?"

"Right now." 

Teagan had gotten back into the jeep and Billy was leaning against the doorframe talking to her when Ellie reached the driver's door. Grant continued up to his jeep and looked in at Ryan. "Are you ok?"

"Me? Oh yeah I'm fine. Relived that you got my cousin back…" he paused. "And incredibly pissed that I'm sitting here like a useless lump." 

"It isn't your fault. She's ok. She knows your deal alright." 

Ryan just shook his head. Grant got in and looked back to see if Billy was coming. He shut Teagan's door and jogged up to the lead jeep. He got in the car and looked at the interior. "I sure hope Hammond wasn't wanting these jeeps back in one piece." 

"Come on Billy, what is our motto for the trip?"

"Screw Hammond?"

"You got it." 

Grant started up the jeep, relieved to hear the rumble of the engine after the damage the car had sustained. He waited until he heard a twin rumble from behind them and then shifted into park, driving past the fallen Pachycephalosaurus sign on the side of the road. 

Teagan was furious with herself. 'You slipped. You crashed. You had a frickin' meltdown!' she continually screamed inside her head. 'You're stronger than this. Now pull yourself together!'

"Are you ok?" Ellie asked. 

Teagan had to pause a moment to keep herself from shouting out an answer. "Yes, I'm fine. It was just a moment alright?"

"Its ok you know, no one thinks anything of it. Honestly." 

"I think something of it. I don't break like that…not ever." 

"And have you ever been attacked by several different packs of dinosaurs in one day?" Ellie stopped for a moment and glanced over at Teagan. "That's what I thought. Listen, everyone is at the same point you are, the breaking point. Don't worry about it." 

"Just don't count me out of this. Because I am so ready for it. I'm not done, I'm not broken, and I sure as hell don't want to be treated like I am." 

"Not a chance. We know you're tough or we wouldn't have asked you to come on this trip." 

"You know I also enjoy the occasional trip to the beach. I'm an R&R kind of girl too," Teagan said, trying to push herself back into a lighter mood. 

"I think after what you've done for us we owe you something. So I'll keep that in mind." 

The two jeeps rolled on past the last three paddocks. They should have seen the gallimimus, carnotaurus, and the ankylosaurus but without stopping to look they saw nothing. At the very end of the trail, before looping back to the visitors center they passed an enormous bird cage that jutted out of a rock face. The trail drove along side the bottom of it, and by looking out the sunroof there was a clear view to the to of it. As with the other paddocks nothing could be seen and no one was in the mood to stop and search. Besides, they all knew that would be back that evening. 

At 1:00 in the afternoon they rolled back into their camp. They left all of their equipment in the jeeps and dragged themselves into the trailer. Ryan made his way to the back and Ellie followed him with the first aid kit in hand. She set to work re-bandaging his shin. "It looks better," she commented. Ryan just nodded.

Teagan pulled out sandwich meat and bread and set it all on the kitchen table. Billy helped her to make several turkey sandwiches and several ham sandwiches and they stacked them on a plate for everyone. There was no conversation, everyone just dug into the food and ate. When the last sandwich was gone Grant stood up and faced the group. 

"We did pretty well out there. I'm not going to worry about making another sweep through the first paddocks, we did a good enough job. So when we go back out we'll drive straight to the gillimimus paddock. Now they're going to be hard, if we can get them at all. They're fast and they move together. As soon as one is frightened they're all going to take off. Our best bet is to all take aim and then shoot together. That's probably the only shot we'll get. But its good enough.

Then there's the carnotaurus. To be honest I'm not sure how we're going to deal with that one. Its not nearly as large as the Rex, only about 9 feet so it'll be somewhat easier to take down. Several simultaneous shots to its chest should do it. So we'll take care of it like the gillimimus. We'll all aim for the shot and take it together. There was only one carnotaurus so we should be able to move on fairly quickly. The ankylosaurus is going to be hard. We might have to figure that out when we get there. In the meantime, think up solutions, if you come up with anything I want to hear it. Pteradons, I'm sure you guessed that's what is in the birdcage. There is every possibility that they broke out of the bird cage. To be perfectly blunt, I don't see how we're ever going to bring them down. If they're in the bird cage it'll be impossible to get them without going in and looking for them. If they're out of the bird cage it'll be impossible to find them at all. They move too often and too fast."

"So we leave the one dinosaur that actually can get off this island?" Billy asked. 

"No, we'll take down the whole birdcage in one shot. With explosives." 

"So we're still going to have to go into the birdcage?"

"Yeah. But only once. That's all we're going to risk." 

"Oh good, because for a second there I actually thought you were going to send us in there twice," Billy's voice was dripping with sarcasm. Grant just glared. 

"It's dark at 8. We'll hit the trail again at 3 o'clock. You have two hours to sleep, eat, do whatever you want." Grant sat back down at the kitchen table with a map of the island. Using a red marker he began to map out an explosives pattern to use for the following day. 

Teagan got up and stretched. Her muscles screamed at her for the action, put she only pulled herself harder into a stretch. Clasping her hands behind her back she pulled upwards as she made her way to her cot. She unclasped her hands and fell onto the bed. Terror, anger, frustration, sadness, and confusion sent her into a deep sleep. 

Billy went to the back of the trailer and sat on the back bench. A small window provided a view of the trail that led to the raptor pen. He sat there thinking how impossible this whole trip was. Why were they even bothering. They weren't actually making any sort of difference. What they killed would simply rebreed. Hammond would still make moves to do something with his island. They were taking actions that would probably get some or all of them killed, and they wouldn't even have anything to show for it, except for maybe a couple of lawsuits and missing limbs. He sighed and leaned his head against the window, shutting his eyes. 

"Hey Alan, do you think it was strange how the pachys disappeared like that?" Ellie asked, sitting down at the table with Grant. 

"Like what?"

"Well there were at least five or six of them. Which is unusual to begin with. They aren't really a pack dinosaur, but there might have been more. And then they were all gone. I know we didn't shoot them all. It just seems odd to me that they would give up that easily."

"I don't know. But I bet they're a pack dinosaur now. Probably some sort of DNA thing, or an instinct that came along with a mutation. Who knows. But we can't count on any of these dinosaurs to behave the way we expect them to." 

"Are we going to have enough explosives to do this?" Ellie asked, changing the subject. 

"That's what I'm trying to figure out. There are certain things that take priority, so I'm trying to figure out what it'll take to bring them down, and then see what's left after that." 

"Well don't waste too much time planning, get some rest. Its not like we're going to end up following the plan anyway." Ellie stood up and walked back to her cot. She was about to lay down when there was a crash at the rear of the trailer. 

Grant stood up and took a few steps towards the back. "Billy?" 

The crash had woken Billy up immediately. He jumped back off the bench and looked around. He risked a glance out the window but couldn't see anything. Grant called his name and he turned to the front of the trailer. "I don't know what that was." 

Grant started walking back to check things out. Another crash rang out from the front of the trailer, this one right by the door. Grant grabbed a weapon as he ran through the kitchen and to the door. A small circular dent decorated the center of the door. "Pachys."

"Are you serious?" Ellie came up behind him. "They followed us here?"

"That is definitely not pachy behavior. They never would have tracked us all this way."

"Well all they can do is make dents in the trailer. So lets not risk getting into a confrontation." 

"Good idea." 

The crashing had woken up Teagan and Ryan. They both came down the short hallway into the kitchen. "The pachys followed us?" Teagan asked. 

"Looks that way." 

"So they're just going to continually ram into the trailer until we what…surrender?"

"There's really not much else they can do." As Grant finished his sentence glass broke somewhere in the back. 

"Or you could be wrong." Billy grabbed his weapon off of the floor and switched the safety off. He started inching toward the back with Grant right behind him. Ellie and Teagan took up weapons of their own and kept guard at the front door. 

When Billy reached the end of the hallway his feet crunched up shards of glass that littered the floor. The rear window had been shattered, but from where he stood he couldn't see anything outside of the trailer. Billy drew himself a mental picture of the trailer from the outside then took a good look at the inside. "That window is at least eight feet off the ground, probably higher. A charging pachy is not tall enough to break the window. And there's no way a pachy could break it at all without charging." 

"So how'd they break it?" 

"Some mutation." Billy turned to look back to the front of the trailer. Both Teagan and Ellie had all of their attention on the front door. No more crashes came from outside, and nothing could be seen through any of the windows. "You think they're just trying to scare us?"

"You want my honest opinion?" Grant took a few steps closer to the window. 

"Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"Like you said, we're eight or nine feet of the ground." Grant kept his weapon at the ready and inched forward, straining his neck forward to see to the ground. He was nearly at the window when he stepped on a large shard of glass and crunched it into several smaller pieces. It was an insignificant noise to Grant, but it was enough to pinpoint his location in the trailer. 

The pachy appeared out of nowhere. It didn't just launch itself up into the air to have a look into the trailer, it launched itself up and into the trailer. Grant reacted immediately, backpedaling away from the window. The pachy perched itself on the bench and lowered its head. There was no where for anyone to go but down the hallway. Before the pachy could charge Grant grabbed Billy's arm and tugged him down the hall. 

Ellie and Teagan noticed the commotion and turned, bringing their weapons up and aiming. But Billy and Grant stepped into their shot as they barreled down the hallway. "Get out of the way!" Ellie shouted. 

The only place Grant had to go was into one of the cots. He dove into the one on the left and Billy followed suit, diving to the right. The pachy had been right on them and didn't have time to stop. It continued into the kitchen where two bullets awaited it. 

Ellie and Teagan had crouched down onto the ground so as the pachy came toward them they were low enough to shoot up into its lowered stomach. The pachy stopped immediately. It let out a screech of pain and then another noise, a warning or backup call. It stumbled around in the narrow hallway for a minute and then crashed to the ground. Grant and Billy rolled out of the cots and turned to face the back window. 

"There's more." Billy could see two other pachys milling around outside. They nervously shifted from foot to foot, waiting. Grant looked at Billy and signaled for him to slowly move forward. They were careful this time not to step on any glass and to stay as close to the walls as possible, trying to blend in. When they reached the end of the hallway the stopped and took aim. 

They pachys had been agitated by their comrade's last call and they gave no focus to their own safety. They stood completely upright, exposing their bellies. The shot was an easy one. Both Grant and Billy took two near the center of the stomach. The pachys went down immediately. 

"What are we supposed to do with this?" Teagan asked, kicking the pachy that occupied the entire center hall. 

"We're never going to get that out of here," Grant sighed. "Lets get some garbage bags and wrap it up as best we can." Ellie went back into the kitchen and grabbed the entire box of garbage bags. 

They began tearing open the bags so that they could be stretched across and under the pachy's body. They weren't able to lift it enough to cover it all the way around, but by the time they were done they had most of it covered with several layers of plastic. 

"This is ridiculous. We now have a homemade pachycephalosaurus couch sitting in the middle of our hallway." Teagan tried stepping around the dinosaur, but it was too big. She had to step on it in order to move further down the hallway. "What are we going to do when this thing starts to smell."

"Its going to attract other dinosaurs in no time," Ryan commented. 

"The smell is going to kill us before we even have to worry about other dinosaurs. Its hot and humid, its not going to take long for this baby to start roasting." 

"We've got to get it out of here." 

"It weighs a ton at least, we're not carrying that sucker out of here." Billy looked back at the broken window. "We really need to fix that window too." 

"Wow, yeah. That can't stay open like that." Ellie made her way over the pachy and stood beside Grant. "What do we have that can fix that up?"

"Underneath the trailer there's a bay filled with plywood and tools. We'll just have to screw some plywood into the wall to cover the hole." 

Ryan had been standing by thinking. "I have an idea." Everyone turned to look at him. "The winches on the back of the jeeps. Could they handle the weight of the pachy?"

"Yeah probably. They're designed to pull rigs out of mud and what not, they could probably pull the pachy's weight," Grant answered. 

"What if we backed on the of the jeeps up to the front door and attached the winch to the pachy. Then we'd just have to crank it back in and it would drag the pachy out the door. Once the pachy was outside it would be easy to drag it off somewhere." 

"That could probably work. Good thinking." Grant handed a set of keys to Billy. "Why don't you get one of those jeeps over here, we'll clear a path in here. Ryan, grab a rifle and watch his back while he's out there." 

Billy waited for Ryan as he limped along and then he jogged out to a jeep. With Ryan's help he backed up so that the winch was even with the center of the doorway. While Billy got out of the jeep Ryan began pulling the cable out. When he had let about twenty feet out he handed it to Billy who brought it in to the others. All of the standing and pressure on his leg was starting to catch up with him and a slight throbbing had begun. Ryan slowly made his way to the kitchen table and sat down, watching the others work. 

Billy wrapped the cable around the pachy's middle and secured the hook. Ellie, Teagan, and Grant got behind the pachy to provide some extra push. Billy went back outside and got in the jeep. For safety purposes the operating controls for the winch had been placed inside the jeep. That way the driver wouldn't have to stand outside in the open while trying to operate the winch. Billy turned on the system and pushed on the recoil button. 

He could hear the winch protesting against the incredible weight and the jeep slide backwards slightly in the mud. Billy continued to hold the button. Against all the strain the winch did manage to start winding the cable back up. It was slow going but within a few minutes Billy could see the top of the dinosaur at the door. Billy released the winch button and turned on the jeep. He slowly eased forward, bending the pachy around the corner until it came loose and fell down the stairs and out the door. 

Having no concern for the care of the pachy he floored the jeep and made slow progress down the road, the pachy's weight greatly slowing him down. When he was satisfied with his distance from the trailer and got out of the jeep, leaving it running. He ran back around to the dinosaur and unhooked the winch. Not wanting to spend another second unguarded Billy jumped back into the jeep and coiled up the cable again. When that was all set he hightailed it back to the camp. 

Ellie, Grant and Teagan had already gotten the plywood and tools out from under the trailer when Billy got back. He parked the jeep and ran inside, locking the trailer door behind him. Ryan was still sitting at the kitchen table, a cold compress on his forhead. 

"Are you ok?" Billy asked, tossing the jeep's keys onto the table. 

"That is a fine question. I wish I knew." Ryan waved his hands toward the others. "Go help them. 

Ellie and Teagan held the plywood against the wall while Billy and Grant screwed it in place. They used double the number of screws that were really necessary to ensure that it wouldn't be easy to take the makeshift window down. 

Half an hour after the attack had begun the pachy had been removed from the trailer and the window had been repaired. It was 2 o'clock and the group was now more weary then they had been after returning from their first pass through the park. They had only an hour before they had agreed to head back out and each decided that the hour would be best spent sleeping. 

Teagan woke up before any of the others did. She had hit a rough patch with the pachys, but now that she had gotten some sleep and was feeling refreshed, she was full of her usual energy and spunk. It wasn't quite 3:00 yet, so she decided to leave the others alone and check out some of the computer equipment. 

She walked to the very back of the trailer where two computers and two separate monitors were located. She booted up one computer and flicked one of the monitors on. The monitor was connected to a weather tracker which automatically came on with the screen. Teagan didn't know much about weather systems, but from what she saw she knew the storm wasn't over. She glanced out the window and noticed the rain had stopped, but it was only the deceiving eye of the storm. It would hit again, hard. 

She kept the weather monitor on and turned her attention to the computer. A stool was tucked under the desk that the computer sat on so Teagan pulled it out and had a seat. She spent a few minutes opening programs and playing around with them, careful not to save any changes she may have created. Most of the programs seemed to be right from InGen's labs. There were lists of DNA codes, molecule builders, DNA mapping programs; Teagan didn't know how to run most of them, and most of them didn't rate high on her interest scale. She finally decided on the Microsoft word program. 

She selected a size 12 font and began typing. She thought back to the beginning of the trip and wrote down what they had discovered about the dinosaurs thus far. She intended to run it as if she was talking on a mini-recorder, which someone should have thought to bring in the first place. 

_The T-Rex at first glance appears to be unaltered, same height, color, build etc. A closer look reveals an enlarged and elevated middle claw, a raptor claw. The claw however is in proportion to the rest of the Rex's body. _

The velociraptor exhibits an even more unnoticeable change. There are no outward appearance changes, but they have acquired the ability to spit venom. Their DNA has clearly had interaction with dilophosaurus DNA. 

Teagan stopped typing. Above the hum of the computer she heard a soft chirping. She hit the escape button on the keyboard and word closed, revealing the desktop with a Jurassic Park insignia in the middle. She stood up and pushed the stool back under the desk and then walked over to the back window. The plywood was thick and she trusted in its sturdiness, but she could still hear through it. The chirping grew louder as she approached the boarded window. 

All at once the chirping grew into a frenzied squeaking and hissing. It died down an instant later and the quiet chirping resumed. 'What on earth?' Teagan thought to herself. It sounded like a chick, only larger. Teagan ran through a mental list of smaller dinosaurs. Ones that would make a sound like that. 

Avimimus at two feet tall, but she didn't think InGen would bother recreating a dinosaur like that. It was too unknown. Othnielia, Lesothosaurus, Echinodon. No, no, no. She'd heard that chirping before. 'Focus on the sound Teag.' 

She heard it when she was walking with Ellie, because Ellie had warned her about that sound. Why warn her about something that chirped like a chicken? Chicken…foot highs! Compsognathus. 

She mentally dug up what she knew about them, why she should be warned. They only stood about a foot high, nearly three feet long, they were carnivorous. Only not just carnivorous, they were scavengers. Ellie had warned her that if she was injured and fell, a large group of compys might be gutsy enough to attack. It sounded to Teagan as if a large group of compys was now camped outside of the trailer. But doing what exactly? 

There was no way she would find out by listening through the plywood window, so she quietly snuck into the kitchen and grabbed a rifle. Without making a single sound she undid the latch on the roof hatch and climbed up the ladder. With a quiet click she closed the hatch. She kept low to the roof and made her way over to the back edge of the trailer. She was still three or four feet from the edge when the compys came into view. 

Ten to fifteen of them were piled on top of each other. They were scurrying under and over each other, biting and nipping to get where they wanted. Underneath the mass of compys was the dead pachy. For scavengers the compys were sufficient. It clearly hadn't taken them long to find the easy meal, because Teagan caught occasional glimpses of the pachy's body and it had been eaten down into the middle already. 

Teagan wasn't worried about the compys. They would have their meal and move on. She worried about what would come after the compys. A velociraptor or other carnivore wouldn't be ashamed to eat leftovers. Something would be by to get the remaining pachy. 

Grant woke up with a start. His heart was racing and his palms were sweaty. It took him a moment to realize where he was and once he remembered he focused on taking deep breaths. Moments later his heart rate was back to normal and he rolled out of his bunk. He heard a low humming coming from the back and when he walked back there he saw that the computer and a weather monitor were on. He took a quick glance at the current weather system rolling across the screen. "Damn." 

He walked down the hall and peeked into each bunk to see who had gotten up and turned the computers on. The only one missing was Teagan. She must have left the computers on and gone into the kitchen. But the kitchen was empty as well as the rest of the trailer. Grant wasn't panicked yet, but he was slightly worried. He was about to pick up a rifle and open the side door when he heard the overhead latch lift. 

He turned around and watched Teagan make her way down the ladder, a rifle slung over her shoulder. 

"What's going on," he asked as soon as she was standing on the ground again. 

"There's a pack of compys, about fifteen of them back there feeding on our pachy." 

"I sorta figured we might have to do something about those. We should have moved them before." 

"Well the compys shouldn't be a problem -" Teagan trailed off. 

"But something will come after the compys are done." 

"Exactly. So what do we do?"

"We could move those two pachys the same way we moved the one out of here." 

"It was risky the first time. I'm not sure about doing it two more times." Teagan figured Billy would volunteer to take the jeep again, and she didn't want that to have to happen. "What if we burned them?"

"Do you know how badly that would smell?"

"We're not going to be around anyway. Do you think it would attract dinosaurs though, the smell?"

"Well it would smell like rotting flesh, it would attract scavengers." 

"Which would put us right where we are now. So what else?"

"We could move the trailer." 

"To where?" 

"The only place we really could move is closer to the trail. Maybe right outside the main gate." 

"Well we didn't see any dinosaurs until we were pretty well onto the trail. And at least we wouldn't have two decaying lawn ornaments. I say we do that." 

"We'll wait for the others to wake up. They still have fifteen minutes. Then we'll move our stuff and head out for round two of target practice." 

"Do you have any plans for what to do about the pteradons? That's going to end up being a major problem you know. We cannot leave them. If there is anything we need to be certain we wipe out, its those."

"I know. And the only way I can see that happening is to go into the birdcage." 

"Then we go into the birdcage. And then of course when we come out we blow it up." Teagan shrugged her shoulders and said the last bit as if she was talking about brushing her teeth, or something else one would do everyday. 

Grant gave her a genuine smile. These kids were beyond tough. They faced death bravely, made wise decisions, thought quickly and logically, watched out for each other, and still had the peace of mind and togetherness to be light hearted and make jokes. He wouldn't want to be on the island with any one else. And yet he wanted it to be anyone else that was going onto the trial with him. 

He had been thinking as he drifted off to sleep that they had been incredibly lucky. Only one serious injury and no deaths. That was either skill or luck, most likely both. Now he felt like a businessman who maxes out on frequent flyer miles. Statistically, how many safe plane trips can he take before the plane goes down? Grant shook his head, 'how many times can we safely navigate that trail before something goes horribly wrong?' 

At 3 o'clock Grant went to each cot and shook it's occupant awake. Ellie had been awake for nearly ten minutes but she was not anxious to actually get up. Before Grant reached her though she rolled out of bed and trudged into the bathroom. 

She turned the cold water in the bathroom sink on and let it run for a moment, then she cupped her hands and let them fill with cool water. Closing her eyes she lowered her face to the sink and splashed the cupped water over her face. It was refreshing so she repeated the action. 

When she was done she shut the water off and leaned against the sink. She let the water drip off her face and into the sink as she stared at her reflection in the mirror. For as tired as she was her eyes were sharp and focused but they carried with them a hardness. She tried to stare herself down, tried to make the eerie coldness go away, but it refused. She knew the Ellie she was looking at wasn't someone who could be stared down and forced to go away, it was the Ellie that had been developing since her first trip to the island. 

Spending that weekend in the company of death had had a more profound effect on her than she had ever realized until that point. She had had many sleepless nights full of nightmares and tossing and turning. She had tried therapy, but it hadn't done anything. She had tried channeling her anxiety and feelings into productive activities such as exercise, writing, baking, reading, and volunteer work. In one month she had lost ten pounds, written nearly sixty poems, baked over ten dozen cookies for friends and family, and been through the rounds at three different humane societies. She hadn't found happiness or release in any of the activities, she had only succeeded in wearing herself out. 

It was nearly a year later when she began to lead a normal life again. She made it through entire nights without waking up, she had a normal, healthy appetite, she began seeing friends and family and getting out into the world again. It had taken another half a year for her to talk openly about her experience. She had thought that once she got to the point where she could talk, that it meant she was cured, she was over the experience and all traces of it could be erased from her life. 

Now, five years later, she realized that she had never looked into her eyes before, not like she was now at least. Never looked and searched for what was truly behind them, where the last traces of her trauma lived. Deep inside she knew that she had always been afraid, because she already knew what she would find. She knew that that hardness and coldness would be there, and she had refused to accept it. 

She tore her gaze away from the mirror and grabbed a face towel. When her face was dried she tossed the towel into the sink and forced her eyes back up to the mirror. 

"Ellie girl, you still with me? You're still in there right?" she whispered to herself. She immediately felt foolish and shook her head. "Yeah, along with your thirteen other personalities." She let out a chuckle and felt an appreciation for the brief change in her eyes as light laugh lines formed around them. "Yeah, you're still there ya psycho." 

Billy woke up to Grant's gentle shaking. "Yeah, yeah I'm awake." He rolled out of bed and grabbed the duffle bag that was shoved under the cot. He took another smaller bag full of bathroom stuff out of the duffle bag and set it on his cot. Then he grabbed a new shirt out of the duffle bag. He took off his dirty, ruffled green t-shirt and exchanged it for a clean black t-shirt. Then he picked up the other bag off the cot and made his way to the bathroom. 

When he reached the door Ellie slid it open and stepped out. "Its all yours," she said, making her way back to her cot. Billy went into the bathroom and started a brisk wash up. 

Ellie quickly changed clothes in the back of the trailer and then set to work changing Ryan's bandages again. His wounds were no longer emitting any fluids, so she figured the new set of bandages would last him a good amount of time. 

Everyone was still tired and it was evident that they would give their left arm for a few more hours of sleep, but there was too much to be done. Grant told Ellie about the compys and their plan to move the camp. She agreed whole heartedly and offered to drive one of the jeeps. Grant handed her the keys and a rifle. "Wait for Billy, he'll take the other one." 

Billy walked out of the bathroom right then. "Did I just hear my name?"

"Yeah. We're moving camp and I want you to drive the other jeep. Take a rifle." 

"Now?" 

"Yeah, we gotta get going." 

"Ok." Billy grabbed a rifle and followed Ellie out the door. They each jogged to a jeep and jumped in. The compys were no longer hovered over the dead pachy, but there was no doubt that they were close. The trailer come to life moments later and Ellie and Billy followed by firing up their jeeps. Grant was driving, allowing Ryan and Teagan to finish cleaning themselves up. He pulled out around the jeep and headed off for the main trail. 

Grant slowed to a stop as the towering double doors to the main trail came into view. 

_"What do they got in there? King Kong?"_ Ian Malcolm's voice flooded Grant's memory. That was how it had all started way back when. Now the doors stood open from their previous jaunt down the trail and Grant had no doubt about what was on the other side of them. And it certainly wasn't King Kong, although the oversized ape would have been a welcome change. 

He parked the jeep right in the middle of the trail and watched as Ellie pulled the jeep alongside the trailer door. She took the keys out of the ignition and got out. Billy came up right behind her and did the same. They wasted no time getting back into the trailer and closing the door behind them. 

"I just left the rifle in the jeep. We're just going to be heading back out anyway, right?" Billy set the keys on the kitchen table, in front of Teagan. 

"That's fine," Grant replied. 

Teagan was leaning against the side of the trailer with her injured leg up on the bench. She was trying to tie off the bandage but was struggling with it. Billy sat down on the bench beside her foot and gently moved her hands away. She didn't protest but allowed him to tie the bandage for her. As he tied he glanced up at her. She met his eyes and held his gaze. He stopped tying and stared into her eyes. 

"What are you looking at?" he asked her. 

"You." 

"But what exactly?"

"You're eyes." 

"Why?"

"Because I like them." 

"Why?"

"Because they're pretty." She let out a soft laugh. 

He shook his head and chuckled. "Cute." He finished tying the bandage then looked up at Teagan again. She had a lopsided grin on her face and when he brought his eyes up she immediately met them again. He gave her a quick wink then stood up. 

Grant and Ellie had moved into the back. 

"You've seemed slightly distracted since we got back from our first trip out here. Are you ok?" Grant asked. 

"I'm going to be ok. It just brings back a lot of memories ya know." 

Grant remembered the voice over through his head as he had driven up to the gate. "Yeah I know. Look tomorrow night we'll be out of here. Just hold on for me until then." 

"You know I will." 

"I would never doubt that." Grant gave her one of his famous lopsided grins and then turned to walk back up to the front. 

Teagan walked back to talk to Ryan. "How are you doing?"

"Good. My leg doesn't hurt as much anymore. Its not throbbing at least. How's yours?" He asked her. 

"Fine. You ready for another round?" 

"Yeah, what's on this trip?" 

"Ummm. Gillimimus, carnotaurus, ankylosaurus. Now that one I just don't get how we're gonna kill. And…Hey Ryan, did Grant every mention anything about the Brachiosaurs?"

"No, he didn't. What do you suppose we're going to do with them?" 

"I have no idea. Think we should ask?"

"Ask what?" Grant came up behind them, placing his old, worn hat on his head. 

"Well, what are you planning to do about the Brachiosaurs?" Ryan asked. 

"I've been thinking about that. Those things are massive. About all that'll work is the bazooka." A look of sickness spread across Teagan's face. "Don't worry, I can't do that either. I figure there's no way a sixty ton animal is going to swim off the island and Hammond would have a heck of a time transporting, storing, and feeding an animal that size. I don't think they're really an issue. We'll go in and take out the nests. But leave the adults. What do you think?"

"That works for me. You're right, those animals aren't going anywhere." Ryan stood up next to Grant. He clasped his hands behind his back and pulled up, stretching out his shoulders. "Shall we?"

"We shall." 

Billy and Ellie were waiting at the front of the trailer. Ellie had her rifle in hand once again and Billy handed the two in his hand to Ryan and Teagan. Grant took his rifle off the kitchen table and motioned to the door. Everyone shuffled out. 

"We might at well stay in the same groups as before. That worked well," Ellie said, walking up and opening the door to a Jeep. She turned to see what Grant thought but he had walked back into the trailer. 

Billy and Ryan went ahead and got into the other Jeep and Teagan opened her door, waiting patiently by it. Grant came out a moment later. "I think I know how to deal with the Pteradons. But we're going to have to go back to the weapons shed first. I want to get this stuff now, so everyone back inside except Billy, I want you to come with me." 

"Back to the weapons shed?" 

"Yes." 

"Wahoo," Billy replied in a flat tone. 

Teagan shut her door and walked over to the other jeep. "I'll go." 

Grant shook his head. "We're only going to be a minute, quick in and out. Stay here ok." 

Teagan didn't feel like fighting. She turned to Billy. "Be careful."

"Careful is my middle name." 

"That's to bad. If it was something that started with a B you would have quite the alliteration." Teagan smiled and then followed Ellie and Ryan back to the trailer. Grant jumped into the drivers seat and started up the Jeep, Billy got into the passenger's side and slammed the door shut. 

"So what is your master plan?" 

As Grant hightailed it to the weapon's shed he told Billy about the plan he had come up with to take care of the flying threat. 

"I like it," Billy said as they pulled up next to the weapons shed. 

"You don't think its crazy? Or too…brutal?"

"Oh its definitely crazy my friend, but I actually think it'll work. And as far as brutality goes, we can spare the Brachiosaurs, but the Pteradons have got to go." Billy paused, rethinking Grant's plan. "No matter what." 

Billy got out of the Jeep leaving Grant to grab a rifle and follow. The door to the shed was mostly shut, but had not actually latched. Billy stepped aside allowing Grant to enter first, in case something was lurking inside. Grant cleared the first room and walking slowly one foot in front of the other he made his way to the second room. Billy followed close behind. 

Nothing but Ellie's mess appeared in the second room. Several boxes were tipped over, packing straw and box lids were strewn everywhere. A pile of burlap sacks had been knocked over and a few stray strands of detonating wire lay across the floor. But what Grant wanted remained right where it should have been. 

"You get one and I'll get one, then we'll both come back for the last one . We'll have three, should do the job." Grant stepped over a box lid and through some straw and sawdust.

"Who's going to go in there and actually do this though. You know you're going to have a fight on your hands." 

"Fight? No one is going to want to fight to do this."

"Oh hi, I'm Teagan and I want to kick some dinosaur butt, quick hand me a toothpick and a straw. I can do it," Billy said, mimicking the spunky girl. "Bless her heart, she has some spirit." 

"You're right. It's a great thing, but a pain in my ass." Grant chuckled and shook his head. 

"Alright, lets grab 'em and get out of here." 

Billy and Grant moved over to the shelving and reached up to the top shelf. Careful not to drop them they hefted two of the flamethrowers off the top shelf. Navigating their way back over the debris they hurried back to the Jeep and loaded the weapons into the backseat, careful to keep everything pointing in a safe direction. With Billy covering him Grant went back in for the third gun. As soon as it was packed in the Jeep Billy and Grant jumped in and took off. 

"What do you think Grant's planning?" Teagan asked. 

" I have no idea. But I hope its good. Those Pteradons have really been troubling me. None of us have the precision shooting required to just shoot one out of the air. It'll never happen," Ellie replied. 

"What did he come in here to look for?"

"No clue." 

"Does he do this a lot?"

"What? Get excited about something, go off on a mission and leave everyone else in dark. Nah, not really." 

"Well I sure can't wait to hear what this is all about." 

"Me neither," Ellie and Ryan replied in unison. 

Billy and Grant arrived back at the trailer only 15 minutes after they had left. As Grant pulled up he honked the horn. Ellie opened the door only a crack, in case Grant was honking because of danger. But Grant just sat in the driver's seat of the Jeep and waved her out. Still not sure what was going on she hopped off the trailer's steps and onto the muddy ground. A light drizzle had once again picked up after a momentary release from the rain. 

"What is going on?" Ellie asked. Grant got out of the car and started to lift the flamethrowers out of the back seat. 

"Take this inside and store it somewhere safe." Grant handed her one gun, then turned to get a second out. On the other side of the Jeep Billy carefully hefted out the last gun. With no one watching their backs they hurried to the trailer door, where Teagan was waiting. She stepped out and held the door open for them, then hurried in after them, shutting and locking the door. 

Ellie went to the back and placed the flamethrower in a trunk that had been full of blankets. The blankets now occupied various cots and the trunk was just big enough to fit one flamethrower. Billy and Grant followed, one gun going on top of the trunk, and the last somehow fitting into the weapons closet. 

"Are you going to tell us your plan now?" Teagan and Ryan stood in the kitchen looking after the other three. Teagan leaned against the side of the trailer, a glass of water in her hand. As Billy and Grant turned to look at her she nonchalantly took a sip of water. "Oh and just so you know, I want to be on the trigger side of one of those" With her free hand she motioned to the visible flamethrower. 

"Great, but a pain in my ass," Grant repeated. Billy chuckled, the only one to get the reference. 

Grant looked at his watch. The digital readout said 4:16. "We've got to get out there. We're not going to be able to take care of the Pteradons tonight anyway, so I'll tell you when we get back." 

"Are you kidding?" Teagan said. Putting the empty glass in the sink.  
"Do I look like I'm kidding?"

"Not so much." 

"There's a rifle in each Jeep now. Billy's and mine. Everyone else grab your weapons and lets get going." Everyone did as they were told and filed out the door. Ryan got into the jeep he'd previously ridden in, allowing Billy the front seat once again. Teagan was the last out the door, behind Grant. As she reached the bottom step Grant turned around, "I forgot something." He pushed by her and went back inside.

"Here we go again. Everyone back in the trailer," Teagan muttered. 

This time Grant emerged with a bag in his left hand. He followed Teagan to their jeep and once she got in he handed her a smaller burlap bag. "What's this for?""Well the Pteradons weren't our only problem." Grant pulled out two grenades and handed them to Teagan, who quickly and carefully put them in the burlap sack. "We also need to take care of the Ankylosaurus'." 

Teagan stared after him as he turned and jogged to the jeep ahead of them. "I feel like I'm in frickin World War III against a bunch of turtles. Us: thirty something; them: zip." 

"I hope it stays that way." Ellie said from the driver's seat. 

"Good call." 

A rumbling sound was emitted from the lead jeep and echoed from Ellie's jeep as she turned the key and shifted into gear. Grant floored it through the front gate and once on the trail slowed to a speed reasonable for the mud and rain. Ellie followed close behind. They passed the paddocks of the dinosaurs they had already visited without so much as a glance. None of them really needed a second look at their carnage. Ellie and Grant kept the jeeps at a continual pace until they crested a hill and the Gallimimus paddock spread out below them. 

Grant slowed to crawl and looked out of Billy's window. As they came to the bottom on the other side of the hill the paddock extended away to the right of the car. The rain had picked up considerable speed and masked the sound of the engines. The Gallimimus' were crowded into a tight pack. In the rain their senses alone could not be trusted to guard against danger and safety in numbers was their best bet. Instead of their usual flocking behavior spreading them out across the fields, they stood in a defensive circle, babies and young in the center. 

Although it was typical behavior for an herbivore such as a Triceratops or Stegosaurus, it puzzled Grant to see the Gallimimus' behave that way. For one they were carnivores themselves, and should have carried few herbivore defensive traits. Also with their speed it would serve them better not to stand still, to spread themselves out and try and outrun their hunters. Yet here they were, packed together like a can of sardines. 

Ellie also noted the odd behavior. She said as much to Teagan. 

"Its not just physical mutations you know. Its messing with their heads. What we have is an island full of psychotic dinosaurs that are all completely off their rockers." Teagan wiped the fog off her window and continued to stare at the dinosaur herd. 

Grant's break lights flared up and Ellie stopped right behind him. Grant's walkie-talkie was broken and no one had remembered to replace it. That would make it difficult for them to plan and coordinate their moves. But years of working together gave Grant and Ellie a certain degree of perception about one another. Both of them sat in their car, leaning to the right, counting the dinosaurs in the pack. 

"Eighteen." Ellie stopped to think. "There were way more than that. There must be another pack somewhere." 

"Or their new defensive skills are not serving them well," Teagan noted. "Just standing around like a bunch of eight foot Scooby-snacks for the Rex." 

Ellie nodded her head. It was completely possible. Still with eighteen that meant that each of them had to hit 3 and there would still be three running around to be picked off. After the first shot the pack would probably scatter. How was this going to work? 

Grant was trying to work out their problem as well. It was easy in that, what he figured was probably the entire herd, was sitting in easy striking distance. But he knew the damn things would scatter. He glanced down at the burlap bag by Billy's feet. He shuddered at the idea of throwing a grenade into the center of the Gallimimus ring, a vivid picture painted itself in his mind. Dinosaurs flying everywhere, limbs, tails. "Ugh," he said out loud. 

"What's the matter?" Billy asked, turning away from the window. 

"We shoot, they scatter, we only take down five. That's not going to work."

"Then go ahead and grenade them." 

Grant glanced over at Billy, who had returned his gaze to the field. For a moment Grant took the time to curse himself for stealing a great deal of these kid's innocence. Sure, they were all in their twenties and they had lost plenty of their innocence on their own and at the hands of others, but they had retained an innocence that few but kids under 7 could claim, an innocent love and fascination of dinosaurs. When they had started here, that innocence and spotlessness towards the dinosaur world had been evident as they fought against him and his destruction of the island. Every time one of them argued against a method of murder, showed disgust in a brutal decision, or even a disgust against their own actions, Grant was reminded of himself before he had visited Jurassic Park. He had since then said that once a dinosaur tried to eat you, it was hard to still like them. But as he had said this to countless critics he had wished deep in his heart and mind that it wasn't true, that he could still truly and entirely love dinosaurs. Grant hated that these kids were going to end up just like him. The same Billy that had slugged Ryan after having to killing a stegosaurus, was now telling him to go ahead and grenade a pack of unsuspecting Gallimimus'. What had he done? 

He shook his head and forced the thoughts away. "Ok, if this is going to work we'll throw two. Not to the center, to the outer sides of the ring. If anything survives it'll most likely be the dinos in the center, the younger ones. They'll be easy to get after the explosion, they're going to be very disoriented."

"Ok." Billy grabbed the bag off the floor and opened it. Grant reached in a got one and Billy got the other. Grant opened the sunroof and rain began to pour in. It didn't matter though, they were destined to be soaking wet eventually. Billy rolled down his window and climbed out so that he was sitting on the edge of the door. Once settled in his position he looked back at Grant. Grant was facing Ellie's jeep giving her signals. He mocked throwing the grenade, then held up an imaginary rifle and began to shoot at imaginary targets. Ellie nodded. 

Teagan didn't initially get the message. "They're going to throw the grenades, and then we'll take down whatever's left," Ellie explained.

"Oh ok." Teagan rolled down her window and matched her position to Billy's. Ellie matched Grant's. 

Nearly simultaneously Grant and Billy pushed in the small lever in and pulled the ring out. They pulled their arms back and let the explosives fly. Grant's landed just inside the ring on the left, while Billy's landed a few feet away from the ring on the right. The dinosaurs shifted a little in response to the flying debris. Some of them actually moved closer to Billy's grenade. 

Twenty seconds later a boom reverberated across the field and through the jeeps. Clouds of smoke spread around the herd, masking the destruction they had caused. It was another minute before they were able to see what they had left to take care of. 

Grant and Billy had quickly picked up their weapons and got ready to aim. Ryan was leaning out the back window, trying his best to keep his balance on the seat. Teagan and Ellie were ready as well. When the smoke began to clear Grant saw that the scene wasn't as bad as the one painted in his mind. The dinosaurs had not blown apart or anything nearly as gruesome, 1,000 pounds of flesh and bone had withstood the impact. But they were dead just the same. Seven still stood, and as predicted they were all located in the center of the ring of their fallen comrades. 

The remaining Gallimimus' were extremely distraught. An unexpected rock had fallen from the sky and exploded, killing most of them in a single blow. This was something they had never seen. They had never witnessed death like this, never so many at the hand of something so intangible. They didn't know how to react, so they didn't; they just stood there. 

It was easy. Very easy. All five of them took one shot. Going against all predictions the last two dinosaurs still did not move. Ellie and Grant took the final shots. 

Once they were back inside the jeep with the windows rolled shut Teagan voiced a question that hit her as soon as they saw that the dinosaurs did not even attempt to run after the attack. "Do you think we could have just shot them down without them running?"

"Does it matter?" 

"It would have been a little less, guerilla warfare-ish if we had." 

"No, they just would have died slower." 

"Whatever eases your mind." Teagan tucked the rifle back onto the floor under her legs. Ellie was right though, whether by explosion or gunshot those dinosaurs were marked for death. And she felt like she was the one running around with red marker making the big x's. For the last time on the trip Teagan shuddered at what she had just done. 

Grant put the jeep into drive and continued on his way. The car was silent except for the thunderous drum of rain on the roof and windshield. Around another bend on the left lay the ankylosaurus paddock. A large section of fence had been battered down and was now stretched across the road. Praying that the tires and undercarriage of the car wouldn't snag on anything, Grant drove over the fence. He made it over without incident. He drove a bit further then parked and turned in his seat to make sure Ellie had made it across. She had. 

With the rain as heavy as it was it was hard to spot the ankylosaurus, even though it was only ten or fifteen feet away. It was standing along side another section of fallen fence and was chomping away on the grass. No more than five feet away from that one stood another. 

Grant asked Billy to hand him a grenade as he rolled down his window. He decided his best option was to roll the grenade and try to get it under the dinosaur. Without another thought he pulled the pin and rolled it away. His plan worked. 

Sensing it was under attack the other ankylosaurus hunkered down to the ground. With its unprotected belly snug against the earth and armor covering the rest of its body, the dinosaur was impervious to attack. 

Grant shrugged and maneuvered back into his seat. "We'll have to get it when we come through for the nests." 

Billy just nodded and Ryan muttered something of agreement. 

After while Billy said, "Did you say there was a carnotaurus?" 

"Yeah." 

"How come it didn't appear in the original tour?"

"Hammond never said. He kept it out in a corner, away from everything else. I think he overshot with dinosaurs, ran out of room on the original tour track. So instead of stopping production, he just kept making dinosaurs and putting them wherever they'd fit. And then later he would just extend the tour road to run past their paddocks." 

"Sounds about like Hammond. So if the tour track doesn't run by it, how are we going to get out to it?"

"There's an access road right before the birdcage. It was on some plans Hammond let me see once, I asked him where it went. He said to excess paddocks. But I know that's where the carnotaurus is."

They drove in silence for another five minutes and slowly the birdcage loomed into sight. It looked ten times more ominous with the dark storm clouds hovering above it and the rain further more concealing what lay within it. Before the entire cage came into view Grant made a sudden left turn onto a narrow, muddy road. 

Every once in awhile Billy caught a glimpse of the river through the heavy tree line on the banks. With all the rain in the last few days its current ran rampant down its course. Billy took his attention away from the river and looked ahead. The road stopped a few hundred yards ahead. 

"Are you sure this is it?"

"Yeah," Grant answered. "The plans showed a sudden, 90 degree turn. The road started off following the river, I guess they didn't realize how sharply it turned up here, they had no choice but to turn the road the same way." 

"Didn't they check before they built?"

"They didn't check a lot of things around here before they just dove in, I would expect no different when it came to road building. Especially just a class 6 access road." Grant continued to drive and as he neared the corner and tapped the brakes. Still going to fast for the rain and mud he took the corner. He would have been fine had it not been for the sudden need to slam on the brakes.

"HOLY---STOP!" Billy yelled, grabbing onto the door handle. With his other hand he braced himself against the dashboard. Cussing, Ryan grabbed onto anything to steady himself. Grant yelled as he slammed on the breaks, causing the car to fishtail in the mud. 

The carnotaurus' body stretched across the seven foot road, the tip of its tail extending into the woods. Three ivory white ribs were exposed in its middle, as well as several organs and damaged tissue. Flies swarmed the entire body and a handful of compys scattered as the jeep careened towards their meal. 

The rear tires continued to slide in the mud as Grant pumped the brakes. They were slowing down, but not fast enough. The jeep began to spin to the left and Billy let out another yell as the bloody mass of dinosaur rushed towards his window. Grant continued to fight for control of the car. Finally with a jerk the jeep came to rest, not even a foot away from the dead carnotaurus. 

Billy let out a deep breath that he hadn't even realized he'd been holding. Ryan tried to reposition himself in the backseat, breathing in and out deeply. Grant sat for a moment staring into the woods. Then he turned to look at Billy. "Well I guess we don't have to worry about how to take care of the carnotaurus." 

Grant, Ryan and Billy erupted into laughter. When they got control of themselves Billy took another deep breath. "Really though, you don't think there's another one?"

"No. There would be three sets of prints, the attacker, the attacked, and the mourning companion. Their behavior is much like the Rex's. Mates will mourn for each other." 

"And you only see two sets of tracks?" 

"Well I mean, its not crystal clear, but I can see they both came out of the woods in front of us. One, our dead buddy here, and the other, the Rex." 

"The Rex killed it?"

"I would bet money on it." 

"Then lets get out of here." 

"Exactly." 

Ellie had gone around the corner much slower and stopped plenty before the dead dinosaur. She watched as Grant worked to get the jeep turned around in all the mud. Somehow he finally managed to get back on track though. Ellie quickly and easily got herself turned around and headed back to the main road. 

"Looks like we're the lead car now kid," Ellie said, glancing at Teagan. Teagan had a big grin on her face. 

Ellie continued driving, passing the birdcage on the left but paying it no mind. She'd have plenty of time to look at it tomorrow. Although they were now the lead car there was nothing to look at, and nothing to anticipate. Even though it was nearly unimaginable the rain began to pound down harder. Ellie took the jeep down a notch. 

"What are we going to do when we get back to the trailer?" Teagan asked, staring down at her lap. 

"Eat, rest. We can't do anything else tonight." Teagan nodded, then turned to look out the window. She stared out to the right, straining to see through the heavy foliage. Moments later the trees and shrubs gave way to another wide field. On the far side, slightly behind them stood the Rex. 

"Ellie, look." Ellie slowed the car so that she could look to where Teagan pointed. "He's still out there." 

"A problem for another time." Ellie picked up speed again, eager to get back to the trailer and kick her shoes off. 

Not bothering to take the extra grenades, or any but one of the rifles inside the weary group stumbled into the trailer. Once everything was secure and back in place they set to making supper. Another batch of turkey and ham sandwiches. 

Billy, Ryan, and Teagan took their food to the back, leaving Ellie and Grant in the kitchen to talk. 

Teagan sat down on the floor Indian style and began to eat her sandwich. She thought over the events of the day. It seemed ridiculous. What on earth did they think they were doing. 

"Does this all seem totally useless to anyone else?" Ryan asked. 

"I was just thinking the same thing. I mean, there's over 200 dinosaurs on this island, its pointless. If we leave just two of any one dinosaur than our efforts have been wasted," Teagan replied, setting her sandwich back on the paper plate. 

"I see Grant's point, why he felt compelled to do this. And I'm not calling him a coward, but doesn't he seem like he would pass this off to the first person he came across. Let someone else come out here and deal with it." Billy stopped speaking to take another bite out of his sandwich. 

"Yeah he does. He always said he'd never come back," Teagan said. 

"Maybe the only thing that would get him to come back, is the prospect that he could end it all forever." 

"Maybe, but he'd have to be absolutely sure that…" Teagan trailed off. She raised her hand to her mouth in shock. 

"What?"

"We forgot about site B? What's he going to do about Site B?"

"Site B?" Billy questioned. 

"Isla Sorna. Where they bred the dinosaurs. After Jurassic Park failed they packed up and left Isla Sorna as well, figuring the dinosaurs both here and there would die within 7 days because of a lysine deficiency. But as you can see here, they didn't. Site B was where Hammond sent his first team to extract dinosaurs for San Diego. After that Hammond said they would just stay on that island, on their own."

"Ok, so if Hammond sent his first team there, what makes Grant so sure he's sending his second team here? And even if this is where the team was supposed to go, he'll just send the team to Isla Sorna instead." 

"True." 

"You remember that blue folder Ellie was looking through in the Jeep?" Ryan asked Teagan. 

"Yeah."

"What do you think was in that?"

"Information on the mutations probably." 

"You don't think that Ellie and Grant know things they aren't telling us. I mean, look at all the questions we've dug up. What happens if we leave two of any one dinosaur? How do five people get rid of 200 animals one by one in two days?! This entire mission from start to finish seems impossible. And then there's Site B. When you throw that into the mix it makes the mission impossible and futile."

"He has a point," Billy said. He had finished his sandwich and now sat elbows on his knees with a can of mountain dew between his hands. "I want answers. Grant has them." 

"You really think so?" Teagan didn't want to believe there was any more to the story. But Ryan and Billy were right. There had to be. 

"Teagan, think about today. We didn't kill all of the hypsilophodonts or othnielias. We missed an ankylosaurus. We're not even going to bother with the brachiosaurs. There has to still be raptors running around out there, not to mention the Rex. Grant just isn't dumb. Something is going on" 

Teagan nodded her head. "Then lets go get our answers now." She got up, leaving her plate on the floor and waited for Billy and Ryan to follow. The three of them walked up the front of the trailer. Teagan felt as if her brain was going to implode with all the questions and impossibilities crashing down on her. Above it all one line of thoughts screamed itself over and over. 'Nothing we're doing matters, we're wasting our time, this is stupidly impossible.' Then, at the end of that line one more thought forced its way into her head. 'Just how dumb is Grant to even bother with all of this?' 

Ellie and Grant had settled at the kitchen table and were making their way through a ham and cheese sandwich each. They had deliberately spent their time talking about anything but the island. Ellie noticed the kids walking up first.

"What's going on?"

Billy took the lead. "We were just thinking, about all that's going on and the reasoning behind it. None of it makes sense." 

"There's way too many holes," Teagan added. Grant set down his food and turned to face them. "We don't care what it is, but if there's something you're not telling us, we want to know." 

Grant nodded then stood up. He shuffled by the kids and walked to the back room where the computer terminals were. He pulled the blue InGen folder out of a drawer and walked back to the kitchen. "Why don't you have a seat."

Teagan and Billy sat on the bench next to Ellie while Ryan sat down beside Grant. Grant opened the folder and spread the contents out on the table. Without a word Teagan grabbed a few and began looking them over. 

One paper had a list of several dinosaurs, nothing big or overly wonderful. Several other papers were rent bills for small warehouses, bills from butcher's shops and for several tons of plant matter. Teagan furrowed her brow. 

"What is this?" 

Grant sighed. "InGen has already made a quick sweep of the island. That list of dinosaurs there, those are the ones they've already taken back to the mainland. That list there, those warehouses, that's where they're keeping them." 

Teagan's eyes grew large and Ryan brought his hand to his temples. Billy shook his head, "How do you know this?"

"Tim Murphy." 

"Hammond's grandson?"

"Yeah. He's been working behind Hammond's back for some time trying to stop all this, but he's staying in tight circles for the benefit of information like this. Hammond is hoping to ultimately give control of InGen to Tim." 

"Tim Murphy? This is getting crazy." Teagan spread the papers back over the table. "Alright, so InGen already has taken dinosaurs off this island. What good can the five of us possibly do?" 

"InGen only took about five different species off this island. A few of each. An ankylosaurus, hypsilophodonts, othnielias. The triceratops family." 

"A family?"

"Yeah, there aren't any triceratops' on this island anymore."

"Back to the issue though. What can we do?"

"Exactly like I said, we're exterminating this island. InGen can't take anything else back to the mainland. It goes deeper than that too. According to Tim's notes InGen planned to take at least two of each dinosaur, at least what was possible, back to the mainland for exhibition. Then they were going to exterminate Isla Nublar themselves." 

The three kids sat stunned for a moment. Then as one they erupted. "Then why didn't we just let them do it?"

"Wouldn't it have been easier to shut them down on the mainland?"

"They'll still go to Site B."

"Whoa, hold on," Grant placed his hands flat on the table. "Once all of the species are on the mainland there will be new securities, new laws, new standards. It would be nearly impossible for us to do anything about it once InGen is in familiar, protected territory. Out here, anything goes. So, we couldn't wait for them to just exterminate the island, because then there would be dinosaurs on the mainland that would have been untouchable."

"Once they see what we've done they won't exterminate. Or they'll go to site B," Billy said. 

"They'll go ahead with extermination. They'll have to. They signed an agreement with the Cuban government. They have until the end of this year to have this island completely shut down, in every aspect." 

"That doesn't cover Site B though does it?" 

"No. But they'll do the same to that island for more personal reasons. Its an accessible island, and its becoming a tourist attraction. InGen's reasons for wanting to shut it down include the fact that other companies are making profit off of their work, you know those tours and what not. Also the island is still leased by InGen, if something were to happen to someone trying to get a closer look, InGen could still be legally held accountable. With all the interest the public has taken in Isla Sorna, they're taking a huge risk." 

"Ok, so what InGen did was agree to rid Isla Nublar of dinosaurs but first they are going to take some back to the mainland and start a park there. Then since they still have specimens on the mainland that _are_ making them money, they're going to get rid of the ones on Isla Sorna, that given the right circumstances could lose them a great deal of money." Teagan glanced down at the papers again, wondering if she had missed anything. 

"Right." 

"Now tell me again, why Hammond sent you here." 

"The first time InGen's team came here to extract dinosaurs, the dinosaurs they have over on the mainland right now, they came back with some of the mutated dinosaurs. When Hammond noticed he had them destroyed. Just like from the beginning Hammond wanted 100% realistic and true dinosaurs. So, he sent me in to get rid of the abnormal and weird ones so that InGen couldn't screw up again." 

"And Hammond doesn't realize that given time all the dinosaurs brought back to the mainland will mutate." 

"Of course not. Hammond is a visionary. A text book example of acting without thinking. He's got enough money to throw around on wild fantasies and ideas, technically speaking he can afford not to think." 

"I'm getting this, but one more thing," Billy paused. "Tell me again, why won't InGen just go to Site B?"

  



End file.
